World

Mordechai To Take On Netanyahu

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 23, 1999 / 2:00 PM EST / CBS

Fired Israeli defense minister Yitzhak Mordechai announced his candidacy for premier Monday in a challenge that could weaken Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chances of re-election on May 17.

As opinion polls showed him taking votes from Netanyahu's rightist Likud party, Mordechai held a news conference with his new self-styled centrist allies minutes after his dismissal from the Cabinet took effect.

"We can win the next elections and bring about a change in the government," he said.

Netanyahu fired Mordechai 48 hours earlier for consorting with Likud's enemies. As soon as his dismissal was effective, Mordechai annmounced his candidacy.

If he wins, Mordechai, will be the first prime minister from among the Sephardic Jews, who trace their roots back to Middle Eastern and North African countries and the Iberian peninsula.

He said ex-army chief Amnon Lipkin-Shahak -- who formed the still unnamed party only three weeks ago -- would be his number two. Other members who have defected from Likud are former finance minister Dan Meridor and former Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo.

Mordechai said Netanyahu's government was incapable of implementing the Wye River land-for-security deal it signed with the Palestinians three months ago, or of leading Israel toward a permanent peace with the Palestinians.

Smiling but looking stiff and glancing nervously around the room, Mordechai also pledged to try to revive long-stalled negotiations with Syria over the occupied Golan Heights on the principle of swapping land for peace.

"When I talk about compromise, I mean renewing the dialogue with Syria, while maintaining our security and national interests on the Golan...

"I also mean a territorial compromise while standing firm on Israel's security needs and national interests and through this to achieve a dialogue on Lebanon and change the situation in Lebanon," Mordechai said.

Earlier, Netanyahu said Israel had long been conducting secret talks about its military involvement in Lebanon, where Israeli forces occupy a nine-mile-wide "security zone" against guerrilla attack.

Opinion polls suggest Mordechai will attract support from traditional Likud voters and could defeat Netanyahu if the two go head-to-head in a run-off election on June 1.

One poll in the Ma'ariv newspaper showed Mordechai trouncing Netanyahu by 49 percent to 37 percent in a straight race. But it said the most probable run-off was between Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the leader of the main opposition Labor party.

In comments that appeared to outline his future campaign strategy, Netanyahu lumped the new self-styled centrist challengers in with Israel's left, alongside Barak and former Labor prime minister Shimon Peres.

"I represent the Israeli interests. I am the prime minister of the state of Israel and all Israeli citizens, so the citizens of Israel will vote fr me and not for whom the Arab world wants," Netanyahu told reporters after Mordechai's announcement.

"They are a strong people who want a strong leader. That is what I have given them until now and they will get the same strong leadership down the road," Netanyahu said.

Palestinian officials said Mordechai was the only Israeli cabinet minister who had kept in contact with the Palestinian Authority after Israel last month froze peace moves, citing alleged violations of the Wye River deal.