Knesset member Ehud Barak has formally announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Labor Party.
At a news conference Monday in Tel Aviv, the former Israel Defense Force chief of staff and foreign minister in the Peres government declared that he would run in the Labor Party’s internal elections next June.
He said he would run against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the premiership in the year 2000 — “or earlier, if possible,” he added, referring to the prospect of early elections.
“I believe that the Labor Party will return to power in the next election, and I believe in my power to bring about security, peace and prosperity for Israel,” Barak said.
The Labor Party’s current leader, former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, was on a visit to the United States when Barak made his announcement.
Peres offered little reaction, saying that he would make his own announcement “in due time.”
Peres said Barak had telephoned him in the United States to inform him of his decision prior to the news conference.
Others in the party criticized Barak for making the announcement while Peres was abroad.
Political commentators noted a similarity between Barak’s tactics and those of Netanyahu, who announced his bid for the leadership of Likud in 1992, soon after that party’s defeat in the election that year.
Barak, at his news conference, made it clear that he would run against Peres for the party leadership if Peres failed to step down by June.
Peres, who lost to Netanyahu in the May 29 general elections, has not said whether he intends to remain party leader.
Other hopefuls for the party leadership, among them former Interior Minister Haim Ramon, offered no immediate comment on Barak’s announcement.
“I don’t think there will be a rivalry with Peres,” Barak said at the news conference.
As for Ramon, Barak described him as “one of the important people in our party,” apparently signaling that a deal was possible. Other Labor figures considering running for the leadership include former Health Minister Ephraim Sneh and Shlomo Ben-Ami, a first term Knesset member who is a leading historian and former ambassador to Spain.
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