Four Knesset members in race to succeed Peres as Labor head

JERUSALEM, March 3 (JTA) — Four Knesset members will face off in the contest to succeed former Prime Minister Shimon Peres as head of the Labor Party. The contenders filed their applications before Sunday’s deadline for those running in the party’s June primaries. They include Knesset members Ehud Barak, a former Israel Defense Force chief of staff who served as foreign minister in the previous Labor government, and Yossi Beilin, an architect of the peace process with the Palestinians who served as minister without portfolio in the previous government. The two other contenders are Knesset members Ephraim Sneh, health minister in the previous government, and Shlomo Ben-Ami, a professor and political newcomer who served as a former ambassador to Spain. Peres announced last year that he would not seek another term.