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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Thursday decided to name his breakaway centrist political party Kadima, which is Hebrew for "Forward." His strategists said the two other names considered, Hatikva, Hebrew for hope, and the National Responsibility lost out, the Jerusalem Post reported. "Kadima broadcasts positive messages about momentum and moving forward," one Sharon strategist said. "It scored just as well in our focus groups and studies as the National Responsibility Party, but it is much less cumbersome." Sharon also opened an office for the party in Tel Aviv Thursday, and was to meet with 14 members of the Knesset, or...

Major opinion polls released on Tuesday showed that if elections to the 17th Knesset were to be held now, Ariel Sharon would win a third term in office as prime minister, and could set up coalitions with as many as 71 seats in the 120-seat house. The Haaretz-Dialog survey, conducted by Prof. Camil Fuchs Monday night among a representative sample of 600 Israelis from all sectors of the population, showed that Sharon could set up a center-left coalition with Labor, Shinui and Meretz-Yahad with a margin of 66 seats. Sharon would also be able to set up a coalition with...

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet Israel's president on Monday to request a snap election he hopes to win as head of a new centrist party intent on pursuing peacemaking with the Palestinians. In a move described by the Israeli media as a political earthquake, Sharon will ask President Moshe Katsav at their 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) meeting to dissolve parliament and call an election within 90 days, Israeli officials said. Then Sharon will announce that he will quit the right-wing Likud party that he helped found to head a new centrist party in a move that is expected to...

A UN rights expert on Monday said Israel's recent withdrawal of settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip has allowed the Jewish state to divert attention from its further expansion into east Jerusalem and Palestinian territories. "This focus of attention on Gaza has allowed Israel to continue with the construction of the wall in Palestinian territory, the expansion of settlements and the de-Palestinization of Jerusalem with virtually no criticism," South African lawyer John Dugard, who monitors the Palestinian territories for the UN Human Rights Commission, said in a 19-page report. Dugard prepares his regular reports during visits to the region....

RAMALLAH - As far as many residents here are concerned, the evacuation of the settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank is just a "play" designed to show the world that Israel was prepared to make painful concessions for the sake of peace. Only a few Palestinians believe that the confrontations between the settlers and IDF and police forces in some areas were real. "It was like watching a play at the theater," said shopkeeper Hosni Jamal as he and friends watched the news on al-Jazeera. "Most of the settlers have already left their homes and what we...

Although Natan Sharansky recently resigned from his minister's post with the Ariel Sharon government because of his opposition to the Gaza pullout, he remains a busy man. This is because, among other things, he is seen as the informal architect of President Bush's foreign policy that seeks to spread freedom and democracy in the Middle East as the best tool for lasting peace. Secure in his role as the world's most consistent advocate of democratization as a basis for foreign policy, the long-time gulag prisoner was in the news in November 2004 when he was invited to the White House...

LESTER HOLT: Why don’t you think the Palestinians will take advantage of this opportunity? BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Because they haven’t lifted a finger against the terrorists, because Hamas terrorists and Hezbollah are saying that this is a great victory for terrorism, and they intend to continue, they say so openly. In fact, the Palestinian authorities, a collection of armed bands, and they don’t lift a finger against terrorists. These people do not disarm themselves, they say they will continue to rocket our cities and send suicide bombers to kill our men, women and children. So, unfortunately, this is viewed on the...

AFTER a half-century of wars, treaties and Mideast peace initiatives, the rough outlines of a solution are as plain as ever. There should be a separate state of Palestine alongside Israel, ironclad pledges of security and gradual steps to get that job done. But nailing down this goal is elusive. The latest example is Israel's praiseworthy decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip, beginning Monday. The move contains all the risks, rewards and complications of the Mideast peace path. Done right, it can be just the demonstration of good faith the two sides badly need to keep going. But...

Resigned Israeli finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu would upset Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a race for the Likud Party leadership if the party primary were held today, according to a new poll of Likud members, says a report in Haaretz. Polls over the past year have consistently shown Sharon beating Netanyahu, but this latest tally found that in a three-way race between Sharon, Netanyahu and MK Uzi Landau, the veteran leader of the Likud anti-disengagement camp, Netanyahu would win 35 percent of the vote - compared to 29 percent for Sharon and 17 percent for Landau. Forty percent of Likud...

An Israeli soldier is dead. He was lynched. Further, the soldier was a teen-ager. So much for sanity in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza pullout. This is all uncalled for. Yet it is happening in the Holy Land. It's predictable. Those Jews who live in Gaza area should have been left in peace to enjoy their front yards and back yards, their living rooms and dining rooms. They knew their neighbors. They went to their shops and purchased housegoods. They were used to their own closeness to one another. They entertained one another for birthdays and anniversaries. Then Sharon and...

Two in three Israelis would back the government's plan to leave the occupied Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements if it was put to referendum, according to two opinion polls. Nearly 69 percent of respondents said they would vote for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, which is scheduled to begin in July, according to a survey in the liberal Haaretz newspaper. Nearly 69 percent of respondents said they would vote for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s disengagement plan, which is scheduled to begin in July, according to a survey in the liberal Haaretz newspaper. Just...