Nobel laureate Peres weighs running for Israeli prime minister

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israelis waited on Wednesday to learn whether Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres would enter the battle for prime minister.

Peres, a former prime minister, needs the backing of the Meretz Party, which has 10 seats in the Israeli Knesset, to nominate him as a "peace candidate" in the prime minister's race.

Current Prime Minister Ehud Barak's snap resignation on December 10 forced a special election for his post. Barak, under intense pressure because of an extended outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, is running for re-election, seeking a mandate for his policies.

Politicians in the Labor Party, whose candidate will be Barak, expressed concern that if Peres does run he will split the vote on the left as Barak battles Likud chief Ariel Sharon to lead the Israeli government.

But the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Peres believes polls show he could beat Barak in a first round of voting and Likud Chairman Ariel Sharon in a runoff.

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Aides to Meretz Party chief Yossi Sarid said Peres had told Sarid he would run. However, Peres aides said the 77-year-old former prime minister had not yet made up his mind.

However, Peres has said he would like to see the election put off for at least a month from its target February 6 date. Israel's Central Elections Commission has decided not to move the date.

Peres shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. He was narrowly defeated for prime minister in 1996 by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who in turn lost the prime ministership to Barak in 1999.

Netanyahu supporters tried to urge their candidate to step into the race, but he refused unless the Knesset voted to dissolve itself and hold a general election.

The Knesset voted this week to change an Israeli law that prohibited noncurrent members of the legislature from standing for prime minister in a special election, but the move did not sway Netanyahu to change his mind.

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Knesset, The Israeli Parliament
Likud
United Nations
  • Question of Palestine
U.S. State Department
  • Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
  • Middle East Peace Process
The EU and the Middle East Peace Process
Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Palestinian National Authority
Israel Defense Forces
Palestine Red Crescent Society

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