Netanyahu seeks pre-election debate with Sharon, Peretz

Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu plans to call on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Labor Chairman Amir Peretz to face him off in a series of candidate-debates ahead of the March 28 elections.

In the meanwhile, the Likud Central Committee will convene Monday for its first formal meeting since Netanyahu was elected leader of the party last week. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's candidacy for the second spot in the Likud Knesset list is expected to be sealed during the meeting.

Members will also vote on a proposal to postpone the date for election for the Likud's list in order to prevent candidates with criminal convictions from contending for a spot on the list.

Netanyahu and Shalom will each deliver a speech during the meeting, intended to demonstrate party unity at its top echelons. Netanyahu's camp said on Sunday that the Likud leader's speech will also focus on unity among party rank and file as well as on the ouster of "negative and criminal forces" from within the Likud.

While Netanyahu has openly announced his intention to bar far-right candidate Moshe Feiglin from contending for a spot on the Likud list, his aides said he also hoped to remove from the Likud Central Committee current members Shlomi Oz and Musa Alepron, who have both been convicted in court, once the next guard is chosen after the elections for Knesset.

The move "is not aimed only against Feiglin. It is clear that Feiglin should be forbidden from being running in the next Likud list," said Netanyahu's aides.

Netanyahu's aides also said that they were bracing for provocations from members of the Jewish Leadership movement, which Feiglin formed within the Likud. "It is clear to us that we will have to face loud opposition," they said.

But according to Jewish Leadership director-general Michael Puah, who is eyeing a place on the Likud's Knesset list, the movement has no intention to provoke Netanyahu.

"Netanyahu is interested in provocation like this so he can prove how much effort he is making, but we will not cooperate with this campaign," Jewish Leadership sources said.

Aside from Monday's Central Committee meeting, the Likud also plans a special Central Committee meeting on January 1, when members will vote on whether to prevent candidates with criminal pasts from contending for a seat on the Likud Knesset list.

Likud primaries postponed until January 12The Likud's vote on its slate of candidates for the Knesset has been pushed back to January 12, Israel Radio reported Sunday evening.

Senior party officials believe Netanyahu postponed the election because he needs more time to influence the list of candidates the party plans to present to voters for general elections.

Netanyahu's office said that the decision to push back the election was made by the Likud's internal elections panel. The postponement is designed to enable an appeal of the party's list of Knesset candidates, Israel Radio reported.

In addition, all signs point to Likud ministers resigning from the government in the coming days, Israel Radio reported.

The decision to postpone the elections has drawn the ire of Likud ministers who were fuming at Netanyahu's management of the party since his election as chairman, Israel Radio reported.

The ministers, who got wind of the postponement through reports in the news media, remarked that Netanyahu's behavior shows that "he has not changed," according to the report, adding that it is inconceivable for the Likud chairman to keep party members in the dark regarding his future plans.

Likud's vote on its Knesset list was originally scheduled for January 8. On the following day several party leaders had planned to meet to decide on staying or leaving for Kadima, after having done what they could to shape the Likud list. This group of Likud mayors and central committee members worked in vain to get Silvan Shalom elected party leader.

Sharon told Likud mayors who met with him after the formation of Kadima that he realizes that you have to help out friends. Kadima MKs formerly with Likud are maintaining close ties with the old place, helping old buddies. One such MK told a Likud mayor over the weekend that only after the Likud list is selected will Kadima "jump on" the Likud field.

In this vein Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who switched to Kadima, sent out invitations to many Likud Central Committee members for his twin sons' bar mitzvah's on Tuesday. Hanegbi, who was one of the most important and beloved people in the central committee in recent years, is slated by Sharon's people to take charge of recruiting Likud activists for Kadima.

The fight for a spot on Likud's list is brutal. According to the generous polls, Likud will win 15 seats in the next Knesset. Ministers and MKs are rushing about nightly at party branches, holding rallies, devoting hours every day to telephone calls. The new candidates and quite a few MKs realize they might not make it into the plenum.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's election as Likud chairman continues to complete the picture of the Likud's state after the Sharon era and the split. Foreign Minister Shalom stands alongside him at the top, and the assessment is that Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz and Health Minister Dan Naveh, as well as MKs Uzi Landau, Gideon Sa'ar and Yuval Steinitz, will be ranked in high spots on the list.

Except for Shalom, all of the ministers and MKs are hyperactive, even showing up at gatherings uninvited. At a rally held at the Likud branch in Migdal Ha'emek two weeks ago, Natan Sharansky, Yuli Edelstein and Yisrael Katz came even though they had not been formally invited.

Netanyahu knows that the Likud list presented will be of tremendous importance in the election campaign. Netanyahu is also considering opening the list to additional candidates even though the list has closed. Doing so would invite the ire of those wavering MKs who are already fretting about being left out.

	Moshe Feiglin, head of the Jewish Leadership faction in Likud. (Tomer Appelbaum)