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| By: Israel Insider staff and partners |
| Published: November 27, 2005 |
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Israel's general election in March will amount to a referendum on the future of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), and parties must present clear positions to the voters, Israel's president said in a radio interview broadcast Saturday.
The remarks by President Moshe Katsav appeared aimed, in part, at PM Ariel Sharon who quit the Likud party and formed a new centrist party, Kadima ("Forward").
Polls indicate Sharon could be re-elected in the March 28 vote. However, he has refused to reveal Kadima's platform, except to say he remains committed to the "road map," a U.S.-backed peace plan that has been stalled since its launch in 2003.
Some commentators believe it is likely Sharon will order unilateral troop pullbacks in Judea and Samaria, as he did in Gaza in the summer.
The future of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and east Jerusalem has been at the center of all election campaigns since Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Mideast War, but voters have avoided a clear choice, Katsav said.
"This time, it is the true referendum" on the future of these territories, Katsav said. "Arguments that have gone on for 38 years are now being decided, and parties have to present clear positions to the voters, not positions that are murky and opaque."
Also Saturday, Israel Radio reported that former Labor Party leader Shimon Peres is considering an offer by Sharon to join Kadima and would make a decision in a few days.
Peres, Israel's elder statesman, lost the top job in Labor to charismatic union boss Amir Peretz earlier this month.
The AP contributed to this report.
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