MIDDLE EAST: Israel's opposition Labour Party is likely to join Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition next week, a move that could promote his Gaza pull-out plan and avoid early elections, Mr Sharon's spokesman said yesterday.
The entry into the government of the left-wing Labour Party, led by Mr Shimon Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, could also help restart stalled talks with the Palestinians after they vote on January 9th for a successor to the late President Yasser Arafat.
"They have reached an agreement. They will meet [ today] to summarise it," said Mr Sharon's spokesman Assaf Shariv, adding that the deal was likely to be signed tomorrow.
Mr Peres said last week that Labour should join the government "unconditionally" to speed up a plan to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians by evacuating all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank in 2005.
"Let's close [ the deal] and go to a unity government," Channel 2 television reported him as telling Mr Sharon yesterday.
Labour officials were unavailable for comment, but party sources confirmed a deal had been reached.
The agreement, which was reached after a week of negotiations and still awaits approval by Labour's central committee, would give the party five ministerial portfolios - none high-ranking - and make Mr Peres a deputy prime minister.
Mr Sharon needs Labour to avoid an early election after his big coalition partner, the centrist Shinui party, bolted over a state budget dispute. Likud officials are still negotiating to bring in two Orthodox parties to secure a parliamentary majority.
Mr Sharon said on Thursday he saw a unique chance for peace with new Palestinian leaders and was ready to co-ordinate some aspects of his Gaza withdrawal plan as a step to a broader deal.
Palestinian leader Mr Mahmoud Abbas, a US-backed moderate and the front-runner in the presidential election campaign, responded coolly to Mr Sharon's proposal, saying Israeli withdrawals should be part of a US-led "road map" peace plan.
In the latest violence, the Israeli army killed eight Palestinians, including six militants, during a southern Gaza raid launched after a wave of Palestinian mortar attacks. The incursion prompted hundreds to flee their homes.
An Israeli missile strike later destroyed two buildings in Gaza City that the army said had been used by militants to manufacture munitions.
Mr Peres (81) has forged an alliance with Mr Sharon, a 76-year-old ex-general, before. Mr Peres served as foreign minister from 2001 to 2002 under a Sharon-led unity government.
This time, Mr Sharon's rightist Likud party has insisted on keeping the top cabinet portfolios in its hands.