Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced that he will be leaving the Likud Party to start a new movement prior to the early elections in Israel which are tentatively scheduled to take place in February or March of next year.
Sharon had helped form the Likud Party in 1973 and it quickly became the predominant political movement of the Israeli right. Internal opposition within the party to Sharon's recent decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip has caused the party to split between those who vehemently oppose territorial compromise with the Palestinians and those who support a land for peace arrangement of some kind.
Early polls show that Sharon's new party should do well in the upcoming elections and leave Likud a more isolated bastion for those on the extreme right.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had challenged Sharon for the Likud leadership earlier this year but lost an internal battle to become the party's new leader. Netanyahu is the early favorite to assume the position of head man of Likud.
Sharon may also draw some support from Labor leaders for his new movement. Published reports from Israel indicate that former Labor Party leader Shimon Peres may join Sharon's new movement.
'I regret Sharon's decision to leave and would have preferred that he continue his struggle within Likud,' said Ehud Yatom, a Likud Party member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament).
Sharon will oppose the new Likud leader and new Labor Party leader Amir Peretz in the race for Prime Minister.
