Netanyahu’s rise or Sharon’s fall?

Netanyahu, 53, revealed his hawkish credentials on national television on Tuesday in the run-up to a Likud Party vote which will decide whether he or Sharon, 74, leads the party list in a general election expected on January 28.

By taking up the foreign portfolio in Sharon’s minority government, Netanyahu returns to a political stage he largely abandoned after Labour’s Ehud Barak ousted him as PM in a 1999 election.

Palestinian officials and EU diplomats voiced concern that Sharon’s decision to hold elections nine months ahead of schedule would stir more turmoil in West Asia at a time when Washington is threatening war with Iraq.

‘‘This puts off any serious peace effort before the elections…Israeli political infighting, both between the parties and within each of the parties, will make progress impossible for now,’’ an EU diplomat said.

A parliamentary committee was to set the election date on Wednesday — with January 28 the likeliest choice.

Before the vote, Israel’s two main parties — Sharon’s Right-wing Likud and Labour — will hold leadership elections. Netanyahu said he would challenge Sharon for the Likud leadership in a party primary expected within a month.

Netanyahu seeks to counter Sharon’s appeal to voters with a tougher platform on the Palestinians and proposed economic changes to rouse the economy out of recession.

Sharon had resisted an early election, saying the timing was wrong when Israel faced deep recession, the uprising and war clouds hanging over the Gulf.

Opposition legislators criticised the appointment a farce, saying Netanyahu will be preoccupied with primaries in the right-wing Likud Party in the coming weeks. (Agencies)