JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dissolved his nation’s parliament on Tuesday, forcing elections as early as February and plunging the close U.S. ally into political uncertainty as the Bush administration prepares for war in nearby Iraq.
It was unclear how or whether the dissolution would affect President Bush’s effort to restrain the Israeli government from taking harsh military steps against the Palestinians that might preclude Arab cooperation in a possible war.
Sharon failed to form a governing coalition with ultra right-wing parties that demanded a hardline stance against the Palestinians. Without their support, he could not form a Cabinet that would win parliamentary approval.
Dissolution of the parliament throws into motion a range of political forces that make any prediction of the election’s outcome — and the resulting impact on approaches to peace in the region — difficult at best.
Right-wing parties took an uncompromising stance with Sharon in part because they believe they stand to gain in an election. Sharon initially tried to avoid early elections because, while personally popular, he faces a strong right-wing challenge within his own Likud party. Meanwhile, the forces calling for peace initiatives with the Palestinians may stand to gain within the left-leaning Labor Party.
Several Israeli political analysts said early elections are likely to favor Likud, costing Labor and other liberal factions a handful of Knesset seats. The reason, they said: Average Israelis have shifted right as a result of Palestinian violence.
Sharon was forced to seek new coalition partners following the Oct. 30 departure from his government of the Labor Party when Labor balked over funding for Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories included in proposals for a Palestinian state.
Labor Party leader Binyamin Ben Eliezer pulled his faction out of the “unity” government — unity between left- and right-wing parties — that Sharon had been leading for 20 months.
The ultra-rightists had said they would join Sharon’s government only if he stiffened his demands on Palestinians and rejected a U.S. sponsored “road map” for peace that sets a timetable for negotiations and includes an eventual Palestinian state.
“Elections are the last thing this country needs right now,” Sharon said. But “I will not throw away the good of the country for narrow-based party political considerations.”