Peretz aides urge boss to woo Barak

Some of Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz's associates are urging him to offer an olive branch to former prime minister Ehud Barak and try to draw him closer to the party's new leadership.

The associates argue that by mending fences with Barak, Peretz would demonstrate a different kind of leadership. As a result, they are even advising him to try to find a legal way to enable Barak to compete in the party primaries for a space on its Knesset slate, despite the fact that he did not register his candidacy.

Acting in this spirit, Peretz yesterday urged Barak to come back and "join the winning team." However, his close associates denied that he plans any more concrete steps. "We never distanced him; he decided not to run on his own," one said.

In response, Barak's associates said that the former prime minister appreciates the change in Peretz's tone, but is still waiting for words to be translated into actions.

Peretz also yesterday urged former party chairman Shimon Peres to return to Labor from his new home in Kadima. "I'm certain that they pulled a fast one on Shimon Peres, and he never intended to be in the same party with Tzachi Hanegbi," Peretz said.

Meanwhile, the chances that Labor will cancel its primaries and allow its central committee to choose its Knesset slate have virtually disappeared, after the party's standing committee rejected the idea yesterday by a huge majority. Only four of the committee's approximately 200 members voted in favor.

The proposal, nevertheless, will be brought to the party convention Tuesday, and in theory, the convention could overrule the standing committee. However, this is very unlikely to happen, party sources said.

Senior party officials said the committee's resounding rejection of the proposal was a victory for Peretz, since his power base is the party membership rather than the central committee. As a result, his preferred candidates are much more likely to be elected in party-wide primaries than they would be if they were chosen by the central committee, where his rivals are strong.

Also yesterday, Peretz's campaign staff decided on a "negative" campaign to complement his "positive" campaign, which will focus on a pledge that Peretz will restore "social security." The negative campaign will target the public's "feeling of revulsion over the complete destruction of public and political norms in Israel."

	Labor Party leader Amir Peretz enjoying lunch during a visit with high-tech workers in Hod Hasharon.
	Photo by: Nir Kafri