Israel's Labor Party Swings Left

Israel's Labor Party members chose a relative newcomer to national politics, former general Amram Mitzna, as their leader Tuesday to challenge Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud in January elections, an exit poll showed.

The poll gave Mitzna, the dovish mayor of the coastal city of Haifa, 57 percent of the vote, compared to 35 for the current Labor party leader, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. Legislator Haim Ramon was a distant third with 8 percent, the poll of 1,000 Labor Party members showed.

While surveys had indicated Mitzna would win the primary, polls also point to Sharon's hawkish Likud party winning the largest number of seats in Jan. 28 general elections, benefiting from the Israeli public's shift to the right after two years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Mitzna said Tuesday that if elected prime minister, he would reverse Sharon's course by withdrawing unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and negotiating with any Palestinian leadership. "The Labor Party is embarking on a new path to present the Israeli public a real alternative," he said at his headquarters after initial results were announced.

Mitzna's main challenger in Tuesday's primary had been Ben-Eliezer, whose reputation among many Labor supporters was tarnished by his stint as defense minister in Sharon's "national unity" government.

During his 20-month tenure, Ben-Eliezer oversaw military strikes against Palestinian militants, and when he resigned last month, soldiers were reoccupying many Palestinian towns.

"The voters are saying we want a different leadership and (Ben-Eliezer) lost because he has been a party of the leadership for the past 20 months," said political commentator Akiva Eldar.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said the election was an internal Israeli matter. "We are concerned to find leaders who are committed to work with us for peace," he said, "therefore we welcome any Israeli leader who is going to be committed to make peace with us and work according to the signed agreements."

Ronnie Milo, a former Likud Cabinet minister, said the outcome would only help Likud in January since the dovish Mitzna would alienate centrist voters. "I think the outcome is excellent for the Likud," he said.

Weizman Shiri, a Ben-Eliezer backer, confronted leading party dove Yossi Beilin on television, accusing Beilin, a key Mitzna backer, of destroying the party by moving it to the left.

About 120,000 registered Labor members were eligible to vote and Israeli media said turnout was about 55 percent just before polls closed. The actual vote was expected to be trickle into party headquarters in Tel Aviv in the course of the evening.

Sharon called an early election at the beginning of the month after Labor left the government in a fight over funding for Jewish settlements. Sharon is currently battling Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Likud leadership, which will be decided in a primary next week.

Meanwhile, violence in the region continued unabated Tuesday as five Palestinians were killed when Israeli soldiers swept through the West Bank town of Tulkarem. One of the dead was a leading militant and another a teenager who had climbed on top of an Israeli armored vehicle, Palestinians said.

Soldiers tried to arrest Tarek Zaghal, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade militia, wounding him as he tried to escape. He later died of his wounds, Palestinians said. The Al Aqsa group is linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

Near Tulkarem, two Palestinians were killed when their car crashed after running an Israeli army roadblock, Israel Radio reported.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment about any of the incidents.

Israel is maintaining control of most of the main West Bank population centers after an incursion in mid-June, a response to Palestinian suicide bomb attacks inside Israel. Curfews are in force much of the time, confining hundreds of thousands of people to their homes.

Palestinians said a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed Tuesday when he climbed on top of an Israeli armored vehicle in the center of Tulkarem. The military said soldiers shot at a Palestinian who threw a firebomb at a tank, endangering soldiers.

Another Palestinian, a night watchman, was shot dead at his post in front of a building, Palestinians said.

Tulkarem is on the line between Israel and the West Bank, 20 miles west of the Palestinian city of Nablus and 10 miles east of the Israeli coastal city of Netanya.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers exchanged fire with armed Palestinians who were apparently trying to infiltrate the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, settlers said. Israel Radio reported that two Palestinians entered an abandoned building sometimes used as a post by Israeli soldiers. It was empty at the time, and soldiers surrounded the structure after the infiltration, the radio said.

In the village of Al Khader, outside Bethlehem, Israeli special forces arrested Abdel Mahdi Ramadan, an Al Aqsa leader. Ramadan was responsible for organizing attacks inside Israel, the army said.

At least 19 Palestinians were arrested in other West Bank locations, the military said. A top Hamas activist was detained in Hebron, Palestinians said.

Etti Galia, a Jewish mother of seven who was killed in a Palestinian ambush in the West Bank, was buried Tuesday at Kochav Hashachar, the settlement where she lived. Galia, 48, was killed as she drove home on Monday night.