A new opinion poll has put Mr Ariel Sharon firmly on course to become Israel's next prime minister after peace contacts with the Palestinians were put on hold and violence flared in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli troops shot dead a 21-year-old Palestinian during a confrontation near a Jewish settlement in Gaza and Palestinian gunmen shot dead a 50-year-old Jewish settler in the West Bank.
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Mr Yasser Arafat,
attacked Israel in a speech |
Israeli prime minister Mr Ehud Barak called off peace contacts with the Palestinians on Sunday until after the election on February 6th, halting efforts to arrange a summit this week with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Mr Barak took his decision after Mr Arafat accused Israel of waging a savage and barbaric war against Palestinians in a speech at the Davos economic summit, although the Palestinian leader said he was ready to meet Mr Barak before the election.
"Since we heard the words of Arafat yesterday...and the false attack on Israel there is no reason in these days to continue to meet," Mr Barak told Israel's Army Radio on Monday.
The Israeli leader had hoped to boost his election chances by securing a peace deal after four months of Israeli-Palestinian violence in which at least 375 people have been killed. But peace talks ended in Egypt on Saturday without agreement.
But in a further setback, the opinion poll in Yedioth Ahronothnewspaper showed he remained 16 percentage points behind Sharon and public sector workers stepped up a strike which is now in its second week with no end in sight.
A senior Israeli negotiator and cabinet minister, Mr Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, said both sides had been aware that there would be no peace breakthroughs before the election.
"The question is what will happen after the elections... but even the next 10 days will be good for both sides if this period will be quiet and not a period in which we witness attacks or dramatic developments, he told Israel's Army Radio. Peace talks in Egypt ended on Saturday without agreement on peace but the sides said they were closer than ever to a deal.
Colonel Khaled Abu al-Ulaa, Palestinian commander of the military liaison unit with Israel in Gaza, told Reuters the renewed violence had proven the futility of peace statements by Israeli officials in the last two days.
Reuters