Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak faces almost certain defeat in next week's election as violence raged in the Palestinian territories Friday and opinion polls predicted Barak's demise at the hands of hard-line opponent Ariel Sharon, said press reports.
Barak, who desperately needs calm in the region before the election, watched as Israelis buried a Jewish settler and another Israeli man, both gunned down in Palestinian areas of the West Bank the day before.
The mourners called for the army to hit the Palestinians hard after four months of fighting, according to Haaretz newspaper.
A battle cry could also be heard in the Gaza Strip, where 2,500 people called for vengeance at the funeral of a Palestinian slain by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, said the paper.
Fresh clashes broke out in the West Bank cities of Hebron and Ramallah as Israeli soldiers and Palestinians squared off.
In response to the latest killings, the Israeli army announced that it was re-imposing its blockades on Palestinian-run cities in the West Bank and closing some roads.
Meanwhile, opinion polls handed Barak depressing news, showing Sharon with a commanding 17 to 21 percentage-point lead.
Confident of victory, Sharon, in a newspaper interview Friday, renewed his offer to Barak of serving as defense minister in a national unity government, said the Israeli paper.
But Barak dismissed Sharon's gesture, saying he would never join a government that includes right-wing extremists.
To combat the deteriorating situation in the territories, Barak warned again Friday that Israel would implement a "separation from the Palestinians" through "an initiated and staggered security disengagement," implying that the autonomous West Bank and Gaza Strip would be physically cut off from the Jewish state, and isolated Jewish settlements abandoned.
Sharon mocked the idea in his interview with Maariv newspaper, calling the plan "words in the air."
Sharon has already said he would oppose dismantling any of the Jewish settlements.
Speaking to Russian television, Sharon also said he was ready to hold peace talks with Palestinian president Yasser Arafat if he wins the election, reported AFP.
"I am ready to lead negotiations (with Arafat) in order to avoid a war, and I will avoid a war," he said through a translator. "I personally know about all the horrors of war, and we will have peace." -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
