Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz asked former prime minister Ehud Barak on Sunday to support his candidacy for the chairmanship of the Labor Party, in exchange for which Pines-Paz promised to appoint Barak as defense minister should he be elected.

According to Pines-Paz, "This is the formula that will provide an answer to the country's needs."

Barak officially informed Labor Party Secretary-General Eitan Cabel on Sunday that he intends to run for the leadership of the party and the position of defense minister. Both posts are currently held by Amir Peretz.

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"The State of Israel, the IDF and the security establishment are experiencing a shakeup of magnanimous proportions," Barak wrote in a letter to Cabel. "I believe that I possess the capabilities and talents necessary to serve as Israel's next defense minister."

Barak unofficially launched his campaign Thursday with a number of well-orchestrated moves that allow him to continue to distance himself from the political arena in Labor while he prepared for the formal kickoff of his campaign.

Meanwhile, Labor MK Avishai Braverman announced on the weekend he would not run for the leadership in May 2007, and would support MK Ami Ayalon's campaign. The two met over the weekend and agreed to collaborate, with Ayalon at the helm.

"Ayalon and I have established a pact and he is the most worthy candidate for premiership," Braverman told Israel Radio on Sunday.

The two Laborites, both serving their first term as parliamentarians, decided to cooperate some months ago fostering a two-pronged approach - economic and security - and agreeing that "when the day came" they would decide who would lead.

Since that time, cooperation between the two seemed dormant, and it appeared that Ayalon was going to declare his candidacy. Ayalon's better showing in opinion polls and the momentum of the internal campaigning in the party seems to have led to the agreement between the two. Sources close to both say their collaboration will give momentum to Ayalon's candidacy.

"I consider Avishai [Braverman] to be a true partner to the road and team that will lead Labor and the State of Israel," Ayalon said.

The radio said that in return for his support, Braverman would receive a senior ministerial portfolio should Ayalon become prime minister.

Ben-Eliezer tours Arab communities
On Saturday, National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and a team of advisors went on a tour of Arab communities in the north to promote Barak's run.

Ben-Eliezer and his entourage met with central activists in Taibeh, Naoura and Mghrar, where residents have not forgiven Barak for the deaths in the Arab sector during the unrest of October 2000.

The tour was officially a courtesy call for the Id al-Adha festival, but the main message was "Barak for defense minister" and an attempt to persuade the Arab public that Barak had changed.

Ben-Eliezer is gambling on Barak, but makes sure to mention at every opportunity that the upcoming elections in Labor are in fact for the job of defense minister, and that there will be another round of primaries before the general election. In this way, Ben-Eliezer is signaling to Barak that his continued support depends on the latter's good behavior. Even the membership drive Ben-Eliezer is supposedly working on to assist Barak is intended principally to maintain his own strength in the party.

In a move coordinated with Barak, Ben-Eliezer called a meeting of Labor activists Thursday, in which he pronounced Barak a worthy candidate for defense minister, and called on activists to launch a major Labor membership drive.

Another step was a phone call between Ben-Eliezer and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, in which the latter also announced his support for Barak as defense minister.

Ben-Eliezer and Simhon are Barak's kingmakers at the grassroots level, where he is at a disadvantage to MK Ami Ayalon, who has been working for months on a membership drive while Barak has been keeping a low profile as he has deliberated whether or not to make a comeback.

Ben-Eliezer's associates also told the media that he had spoken with former minister Moshe Shahal, who told him that it was "essential to bring Ehud Barak to the office of defense minister."

Shahal, unlike Ben-Eliezer and Simhon, is not in a position to promote internal party maneuvers, but his support for Barak, with whom he had been at odds in the past, would contribute to a suitable atmosphere for Barak to announce his candidacy for Labor chair. So can reports of a rapprochement between Barak and former minister Uzi Baram, who supported party chairman and Defense Minister Amir Peretz in the last party primaries.

The announcement by former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg of his support for Barak is another step in the direction of the latter's announcement of his candidacy.

The main message of Barak's unofficial campaign is that the defense ministry is in the hands of the wrong person, and that the portfolio should go to Barak. Peretz and his close associates therefore believe that Barak or his supporters are behind reports that Olmert is poised to fire Peretz and appoint Barak in his stead, reports that have been vehemently denied by Olmert's bureau.

Barak put in several calls Friday to Peretz to tell him personally that he was not involved in the rumors, or in other attempts to oust him. Peretz refused to take the calls, but Barak did not give up, and spoke to Peretz's old friend Dedi Suissa, who a few weeks ago was appointed head of Peretz's political team.

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