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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Yaacov who wrote (8638)	5/16/1999 2:58:00 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17770

Yaacov, since you claim special knowledge, I am not in a position to contradict you, but I hope that you are wrong...

To: Yaacov who wrote (8638)	5/16/1999 3:19:00 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 17770

Israel's PM Election To Be Decided Monday By Jeffrey Heller May 16 1:16pm ET JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's election for prime minister narrowed to a showdown between front-running challenger Ehud Barak and Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu after two candidates withdrew from the race Sunday, election eve. Former defense chief Yitzhak Mordechai, a distant third in opinion polls, threw his support behind Labor Party leader Barak. Ultranationalist Benny Begin withdrew in an apparent attempt at counterbalance but pointedly did not endorse Netanyahu. Pollster Hanoch Smith, revising figures from a survey he took Thursday and Saturday, told Reuters that in light of Sunday's events, he now forecast Barak would win 54 percent of the vote in the Monday voting to 46 percent for Netanyahu. ``I said and repeat that one of our central goals is to replace the prime minister,'' Center Party leader Mordechai, flanked by fellow party leaders and with his wife Kochi seated behind him, told a news conference in Tel Aviv. The big question now was whether Likud defectors who had supported Mordechai would revert to Netanyahu in sufficient numbers to deny Barak victory. ``It's hard for me to believe this will happen,'' said political scientist Giora Goldberg of Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv. ``Mordechai already had such a low percentage of support that while the majority of his backers will return to Netanyahu, I don't think it can reverse the picture,'' Goldberg told Reuters. Netanyahu, whose support in opinion polls has waned steadily in the approach to voting, brushed off Mordechai's endorsement of Barak and predicted yet again that he would defy forecasts and triumph at the ballot box. ``We're going to surprise people. We're going to determine the outcome of this thing and we're going to win,'' Netanyahu told a chaotic news conference televised live from the prime minister's office in Jerusalem. Netanyahu again appealed to former loyalists to rejoin the fold, calling on them to ``return home to Likud.'' He painted Monday's vote as a battle between his camp and what he said was a left-wing alliance that would cede land to the Palestinians in a way that would endanger Israeli security. Israel's 4.3 million voters will cast two ballots Monday, one for the country's 120-member parliament and the other in the direct election for prime minister. Analysts and Likud insiders say Netanyahu, 49, had hoped to push the contest to a second round to buy time for a comeback. The exit of Mordechai and Begin, son of the late prime minister Menachem Begin, meant that the race would be decided in one round Monday, sparing Israel an unprecedented run-off on June 1 should no one win more than 50 percent of the vote. Commenting on Mordechai's decision, Barak denied Likud allegations he had made a deal with the former general but said the Center Party would be ``an important part of any government we form after the election.'' Israeli Arab contender Azmi Bishara quit the race Saturday night, setting into motion the withdrawals Sunday. Bishara's candidacy had been expected to draw potentially crucial Israeli Arab votes away from Barak, a 57-year-old former army chief, in a first round. Israel's Arab citizens form more than 15 percent of the electorate. Mordechai, Netanyahu's defense minister until January, began his campaign convinced that he alone could beat him. He quit Likud and joined the new Center Party to mount his challenge. ``With the data we now have, we must give Knesset member Barak an opportunity on the one hand, while creating the right balances inside the political system for the good of Israel,'' Mordechai said, announcing his withdrawal.