Meretz Party delays decision on backing Peres for Israeli prime minister

Party leader wants a Barak-Peres joint effort for peace

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel's left-wing Meretz Party delayed a decision on whether to back former Prime Minister Shimon Peres in a run for the Jewish state's top post, instead urging current Prime Minister Ehud Barak to bring Peres into the peace process.

"I proposed that Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres return together, hitch up together for the peace process," Meretz leader Yossi Sarid told a news conference after a meeting of the party leadership.

Peres still has until midnight (2200 GMT) to get the signatures of 10 parliament members that he needs in order to run. Meretz has 10 seats in the Israeli Knesset.

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Barak forced a special election when he resigned on December 10 amid increasing criticism over his handling of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and ability to control the ongoing violence in the region. Barak said he would stand for re-election in what he hopes will be a referendum for his strategy.

But Barak trails right-wing Likud party chairman Ariel Sharon in polls ahead of the February 6 vote, and many Barak supporters fear a Peres candidacy would assure Sharon of the win.

Peres aides have said that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate believes he can defeat Barak in the first round of elections and go on to defeat Sharon in a runoff. Opinion polls are showing Peres would have a good chance of victory in a head-to-head race with Sharon.

Peres, 77, shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat . He was narrowly defeated for prime minister in 1996 by Benjamin Netanyahu, who in turn lost to Barak in 1999.

Netanyahu had been considered the front-runner for the February election, but he refused earlier this week to participate unless the Knesset dissolved itself and called a general election.

CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna contributed to this report.

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The Nobel Peace Prize 1994
Meretz Party (In Hebrew)
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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