Ariel Sharon, who returned from New York last week claiming a moral victory in his $50 million libel suit against Time magazine, says he intends to be Israel’s Prime Minister, but is in no hurry to pursue that goal.
In an Israel Radio interview Friday night, the Minister of Commerce and Industry said he would be a candidate for Prime Minister only in four years’ time. No one will be seeking the office before then because of the Labor-Likud unity government agreement, he said.
Under the agreement, Labor Party leader Shimon Peres is serving as Premier during the first half of the government’s five year statutory tenure, to be replaced in the second half by Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir, currently Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister.
Sharon said “I have less ambition than people think. I am interested in agriculture, world travel, meeting people. My life does not revolve around wanting to be Premier.”
But Sharon’s closest aides and backers in Likud’s Herut bloc are already seeking to position him to head the Likud list in the forthcoming Histadrut elections, to be held probably next May. They are trying to persuade Sharon to challenge the incumbent Secretary General of Histadrut, Laborite Yisrael Kessar. If Sharon is the candidate, he would displace one of his most formidable rivals for leadership of Herut and Likud, Deputy Premier and Housing Minister David Levy.
Even if Sharon fails to win over Kessar in the Histadrut elections, his candidacy would be a stepping stone toward the goal of heading Likud which holds its internal elections next November. As leader of Likud, he would be in line for the Premiership in the next national elections.
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