Gaza assault boosts Barak

Gaza assault boosts Barak

By Tobias Buck in Jerusalem, Peggy Hollinger in Paris and Heba Saleh in
Cairo
Financial Times
January 1 2009

Israel's continuing attacks on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are likely to
play a key role in shaping the outcome of February's Israeli general
election, with polls on Thursday indicating growing support for Ehud Barak,
the defence minister and Labour party leader.

Opinion polls also showed that more than half of Israelis were in favour of
continuing air strikes on Gaza, but less than a fifth wanted the government
to order a full-scale ground offensive.

Israeli attacks on Hamas targets in the territory have so far killed more
than 400 Palestinians and wounded at least 2,000 in six days of bombardment.
Four Israelis have died as a result of rocket fire from Gaza.

On Thursday an Israeli missile killed Nizar Rayan, a Hamas leader and the
most senior member of the group to die in the conflict so far.

Mr Barak was until recently expected to lead his centre-left party to a
crushing defeat in the February 10 election, with most polls predicting a
two-way race between the centrist Kadima party led by Tzipi Livni, the
foreign minister, and the rightwing opposition Likud party under Benjamin
Netanyahu.

But a poll published by the Haaretz newspaper on Thursday showed that many
Israelis were now warming to Mr Barak, who is playing a pivotal role in
steering the assault on Gaza. Fifty-three per cent of respondents said they
were satisfied with the defence minister's performance - up from 34 per cent
six months ago.

Labour's surge means that rightwing and religious parties appear no longer
to command a majority in the polls, a striking reversal from recent
forecasts and welcome news for Ms Livni, who now has a better chance of
renewing the current coalition centred on Kadima and Labour.

Thursday also saw fresh diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, as Ms Livni
travelled to Paris for a meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.

However, she again rejected international appeals for an immediate end to
the hostilities, saying there was "no humanitarian crisis in the strip, and
therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce".

A senior European Union delegation is due to visit Israel on Monday to
reinforce calls for a truce. A delegation of eight Arab foreign ministers,
headed by Saudi Arabia, is preparing to travel to New York to press for a
United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.

The Security Council was due to hold further consultations on Gaza after
failing to agree on a such a resolution on Wednesday night.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

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