No guarantees for Sharon as new Israeli PM

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TEL AVIV, Israel (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon visited the grave of his wife on Wednesday, a day after his landslide victory over incumbent Prime Minister Ehud Barak and before launching his campaign to build a coalition to govern the troubled Mideast state.

Sharon said in his victory speech on Tuesday night that he was sorry that Lily Sharon, who died last year of cancer, did not live to see him accomplish his dream of becoming Israel's leader.

But the road to the prime minister's office remains a rocky one for the 72-year-old hard-line Likud chairman. He has 45 days from February 13 -- when official election results will be announced -- to form a government he said must be one of "national cohesion."

"I will work to unify the people of Israel, therefore I call on the Labor Party (Barak's party) to join us in a national unity government," he said. "In these trying times, unity must be our first priority, one we must address immediately. We cannot afford to wait until tomorrow."

Following the trip to his wife's grave, on his farm in the Negev Desert, Sharon visited the Western Wall, a traditional gesture for newly elected Israeli officials.

Sharon's last visit to the Wall -- Judaism's holiest shrine, and one that shares a sacred east Jerusalem site with a pair of mosques holy to Muslims -- preceded the eruption of a wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that has killed more than 400 people, most of them Palestinians.

Isareli Arabs threaten Sharon government

FACTS Sharon’s hurdles  • Has 45 days to form government once results are confirmed on February 13  • Must gain Knesset approval of his budget by March 31 - if unsuccessful, new elections will be called    VIDEO CNN's Brent Sadler describes the memories many Palestinians have of Sharon (February 7) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Israel Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon thanks supporters in his victory speech (February 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Ehud Barak delivers concession speech to Labor Party supporters (February 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Barak's concession speech - Part 2 (February 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     RESOURCES Domestic and international reaction to the election of Ariel Sharon     RESOURCES Israeli Election 2001     GALLERY Timeline gallery: Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon    MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     ALSO Sharon to face old foes Press alarmed by Sharon win Investors wait on Sharon Analysis: Europe fears for peace process Bush pledges close cooperation with Sharon Palestinians pledge to work with Sharon

But Sharon began the business on Wednesday of molding the Israeli government to his vision, appointing a team to begin negotiations with other political parties as he tried to weld together a cohesive coalition.

The fractured 120-member Israeli Knesset, which must vote on Sharon's proposals for everything from peace with the Palestinians to the nation's budget, was on the verge of disbanding in favor of new general elections when Barak resigned on December 10, forcing Tuesday's special election.

Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab member of Knesset, said his contingency would continue to pursue new elections across the board.

"I think that this government will be the shortest government even in the history of Israeli," Tibi said. "We will, from the very beginning, act in order to bring it down and to have early elections for both Knesset and prime minister."

Arab Israelis overwhelmingly supported Barak in his 1997 defeat of Likud Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu, but equally overwhelmingly abandoned him on Tuesday.

"It was a signal to the Labor Party that this false romantic relationship between us as an Arab sector and the Labor Party has ended. "We cannot accept the fact that we are always losing with the losers and losing even with the winners."

Low voter turnout

Barak's coalition -- which included Arab Israelis, religious Jews and Russian immigrants -- disintegrated last year after the collapse of trilateral peace talks at Camp David and the start of the fresh wave of violence on September 28.

As that wave of violence stretched from weeks into months, Barak's support eroded. A last-ditch effort to secure a deal with the Palestinians fell short just days before the election, leading to Sharon's 25-point victory.

But Sharon's win also came with the lowest Israeli voter turnout in recent history -- 62 percent in a nation that regularly brings out 80 percent of its registered voters.

Sharon campaigned on a pledge of "peace with security," and promised not to divide Jerusalem -- the city both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital and most holy city -- and to grant much less territory to the future Palestinian state than has been proposed by Barak.

Barak's campaign focused on peace talks that continued even as the campaign went into its final days. He courted voters as both Israeli and Palestinian officials said that an agreement was near and needed Barak's re-election to bring it to fruition.

Sharon is reviled by the Palestinians for orchestrating Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. An Israeli inquiry later found that the invasion led to the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at two refugee camps by Lebanese militia allied with Israel -- and that then-Defense Minister Sharon was partly responsible for the deaths.

Labor cooperation in question

After his defeat at the polls, Barak resigned his seat in the Knesset and the leadership of the Labor Party, although he will remain as caretaker prime minister until Sharon completes the formation of his government.

The question of Barak's replacement at Labor's helm was central to Sharon's quest for a unity government. If he cannot bring Labor on board, Sharon will almost certainly be forced to string together a narrow coalition of religious, right-wing and centrist parties -- one that may not be stable enough to even approve a budget.

And Israel's budget must be approved by March 31 or new elections -- the Knesset's goal before Barak's resignation -- will be held on April 15.

Knesset speaker Avraham Burg, a harsh Barak critic long seen as his possible successor, outgoing Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, one of Barak's peace negotiators and Labor's elder statesman, former prime minister and Nobel Prize laureate Shimon Peres were touted as possible leaders of the left-center party.

Labor Party members of Knesset were deeply divided over the issue of cooperating with Sharon. Colette Avital, a Labor Party Knesset member, told CNN that she didn't believe Likud had any "realistic proposals" for peace -- or "much desire to reach peace."

Others, including outgoing communication minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezar, have urged cooperation with Sharon.

CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna and Correspondent Fionnuala Sweeney contributed to this report.

Israelis vote amid threats
February 6, 2001
Barak tries to coax Israeli Arabs to polls as vote nears
February 4, 2001
Blow for Barak as Rabbis back Sharon
February 4, 2001
Barak refuses to stand aside
January 31, 2001
Mideast negotiators want to continue talks after Israeli elections
January 27, 2001

Israeli Prime Minister's Office
Knesset, The Israeli Parliament
Likud
Meretz Party
Avoda (Labour) Party
Israel Defense Forces
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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