Israel's new right-wing leader Mr Ariel Sharon discovers today whether he can form a unity government with the Labour Party, crucial to his peacemaking policy and to clear the way for him to take power.
Mr Sharon, who defeated Labour's Mr Ehud Barak in a prime ministerial election earlier this month, hopes the party will vote at a meeting this afternoonto form a government with his right-wing Likud.
Opposition by several senior Labour members seemed unlikely to prevent the party's central committee from voting in favour of a coalition.
Mr Sharon is racing against the clock to form a government by the end of March or face general elections.
If he succeeds in forming a unity government, Nobel laureate and former Israeli leader Mr Shimon Peres has been touted as foreign minister. He is expected to be voted Labour's temporary chief today, following the withdrawal from politics of Mr Barak, until party primaries are held.
Mr Sharon's policy on peacemaking with the Palestinians largely depends on his success at forming an alliance with centre-left Labour. The alternative is to form a right-wing government that would hamper efforts to revive peace talks.
On the eve of Labour's decision Israel showed signs it was taking U. Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell's call to lower tension with the Palestinians to heart by removing military checkpoints that divided the Gaza Strip into two separate sections.
The checkpoints were set up last Friday following a mortar attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza. However a full Israeli closure over the West Bank and Gaza Strip remained in effect.
MrPowell called for Israel to end a siege of the West Bank and Gaza yesterday during a brief stop for talks with Mr Sharon and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat as part of a three-day Middle East tour.