Sharon exit opens door for Peres comeback

Little more than a month ago, the 82-year-old Peres announced he was finished with party politics after announcing he was rescinding his life-long membership of the centre-left Labour, endorsing Sharon in the process.

Although the Nobel prize winner said he wanted to continue working towards peace with the Palestinians, it had been assumed that his declaration that "my party activity has come to an end" would herald an end to record-breaking parliamentary career which began in 1959.

However the fierce ambition which has guided Peres throughout his career still appears to be burning brightly. He told an interview with CNN on Sunday that he would probably be on the list of candidates from Sharon's new Kadima party fighting a general election on March 28.

He also gave his backing to acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a move designed to ensure that he is placed high up the list of candidates.

Peres, a two-time former premier, said he had thought about his future political role "and the answer is not to be a prime minister."

"When you're a prime minister you have to spend so much time on issues that are not necessarily connected to peace," he said.

"I want to devote whatever time and energy I have for the peace process."

Peres may have been encouraged to have thrown his hat into the Kadima leadership contest after a poll published immediately after Sharon was admitted to hospital showed the party would get the highest number of votes with him at the helm.

However his chances of victory would have been negligible as the bulk of Kadima recruits come from Sharon's old right-wing Likud party rather than Labour.

Peres has famously never won a general election and is more widely admired abroad than at home. However, having been robbed of one elder statesman in Sharon, surveys show that Peres's reassuring presence would be welcomed.

A report in Monday's Haaretz daily said that Peres was being lined up for a senior cabinet post if Olmert is victorious on March 28 although not as deputy premier because of his age.

Peres would likely get "a senior, central and influential post related to the subject that interests him more than any other: negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians," a source in Kadima told the paper.

Not everyone however is happy to see another comeback by Peres however, who stepped in as a "temporary" leader of Labour after its election debacle in 2003 and then was only turfed out in last November's leadership election.

Some commentators have said Peres's backroom manoeuvrings while Sharon lies critically ill, allegedly pressuring Olmert to place him high up the Kadima list while also flirting with Labour leaders about a possible return, have been distinctly unstatesmanlike.

"All this begging is hurting the party. Peres was in the party, and if he so wishes, he can return," said Labour MP Eli Ben-Menachem.

An editorial in the Maariv daily also accused Peres of playing politics at a time when he should be rising above the fray.

"This hour, which could have been his greatest, has become his smallest; this is not what Israelis expected of their longest-serving politician," said Maariv.