Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the new leader of the Labor Party agreed at a meeting yesterday to hold early elections in late February or March.

An early ballot has been on the cards since Amir Peretz defeated veteran peacemaker Shimon Peres last week in a surprise victory to lead Labor, vowing to leave the ruling coalition and force an election before it is due in November 2006.

Political uncertainty since Sharon completed the withdrawal of settlers and troops from Gaza has been a damper on hopes for renewed peacemaking with the Palestinians, also strained by violence. Just yesterday, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Peretz said after the 20-minute meeting in Tel Aviv that he would accept any date that Sharon chose in the period agreed.

Sharon's spokesman Assaf Shariv said the prime minister wanted to consult with other parties before fixing a date.

Because Israeli elections are held on Tuesdays, but not holidays, likely dates would be February 28, March 21 and March 28. Israeli media said Sharon favored February 28, quoting him as saying a snap election would prevent a political freeze.

"We must ensure that 2006 will not turn into a lost year with regard to the political process and to the effort to reach an agreement with the Palestinians," Sharon told Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Opinion polls show that Peretz's toppling of Peres has given Labor a big lift but not enough to unseat Sharon, a 77-year-old former general who twice swept to power pledging tough action against a Palestinian revolt that erupted in 2000.

Palestinians have their own parliamentary elections coming up in January. President Mahmoud Abbas hopes to use them to bring Hamas Islamic militants into the political mainstream and bolster his drive for negotiations on statehood.

However, Israel insists that militants are disarmed before new talks on a US-backed peace "road map."

(China Daily November 18, 2005)