Jerusalem – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon narrowly survived a conservative revolt Monday as members of his dominant political party rejected attempts to drive the veteran leader from power.
By a slim margin, Sharon’s Likud Party turned down a request by its conservative wing to hold internal elections quickly in an effort to install a new leader.
Meanwhile, Israel arrested 82 Palestinian militants in the West Bank overnight, the military said today. The sweep against Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists followed the arrest of 207 Palestinian militants on Sunday.
The decision by the Likud’s Central Committee quashed, at least temporarily, efforts to topple Sharon in retaliation for his decision to withdraw all Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip and to end the nation’s 38-year military rule over Gaza’s 1.3 million Palestinians.
Sharon’s victory gave Likud moderates a boost and gave the prime minister more time to shore up his political base in preparation for the spring primaries and then the national elections, which don’t have to be called until November 2006.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led the attempt to undermine Sharon. Netanyahu had accused Sharon of betraying Likud Party principles by pressing ahead with the Gaza Strip withdrawal without getting any concessions from the Palestinian government.
Sharon had warned that his party would commit political “suicide that would spell the end of the Likud” if it adopted Netanyahu’s hard-line bargaining positions. Faced with the conservative insurgency, Sharon aides had suggested that the prime minister might leave Likud and try to form a centrist political party if he lost.
In the end, more than 90 percent of the central committee’s 3,000 members voted, with just 104 votes separating those who opposed the calls for an early primary from those who supported the proposal.
Netanyahu supporters voiced disappointment but vowed to press ahead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
