Labor MKs Ami Ayalon and Prof. Avishai Braverman have agreed to collaborate in preparing to challenge Labor Party chairman, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, for the leadership of the party.

The former head of the Shin Bet security services, Ayalon, and Braverman, former president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, have agreed in recent days that one of them will propose his candidacy for the top spot in the party and the other would serve as No. 2 on the party list.

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The deal is based on a duumvirate - a civil-security leadership, in which Braverman will promote a social-democratic platform with a social agenda, while Ayalon would advance security-diplomatic issues.

Braverman and Ayalon have been holding frequent meetings recently. Their relationship became closer during the latter part of the war in Lebanon, when the two concluded that a challenge to Peretz could not wait much longer.

Ayalon and Braverman are part of the faction opposing Peretz inside Labor - often called "the Rebels" - which includes Matan Vilnai and Danny Yatom, former army generals, and MK Colette Avital.

For more than a year now, Ayalon has been holding regular meetings in various branches of the Labor Party, speaking with hundreds of members and forming a group of supporters.

Braverman was brought to the party by Peretz prior to this year's elections, with the promise that he would be appointed to a ministerial post in a government headed by the Labor chairman. Having failed to deliver on his promise, Peretz acquired a political enemy.

Braverman intends to embark on a campaign to rally support from party members throughout the country and from academics and professionals, with the promise of changing the government.

Certain sources believe that in the near future, Ayalon will announce his candidacy as head of Labor, with Braverman as No. 2. Ayalon is aware that it will take many months to rally sufficient support for such a move within the party.

Another potential candidate for the leadership of Labor is former prime minister Ehud Barak, who has also intensified his political activities recently, meeting with both party members and Labor MKs.

For his part, Peretz is taking plans to challenge his leadership seriously and associates say that he intends to initiate moves to bolster his hold on the party. As part of these efforts, he intends to focus on his socioeconomic agenda, and to garner support among Arab Israelis, many of whom backed him during the party primaries.