Sharon presses case for big win

HAIFA - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon urged voters to give him a big win in tomorrow's general election, pressing his get-tough security agenda hours after Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians in Gaza City.

Sharon took his campaign to the heartland of his leading rival on Sunday as the Army also imposed a blanket travel ban preventing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from entering Israel for 62 hours until after the election.

Israel, battling to halt Palestinian suicide bombings and rocket and gun attacks, mounted its deepest thrust into Gaza City since a Palestinian uprising for an independent state erupted more than two years ago.

The death toll was the highest in a single day since 16 people were killed in an October raid.

Sharon, who refuses to talk peace with the Palestinians until the bloodshed ends, set his sights on his right-wing Likud party winning a mandate to form a stable government without having to rely on ultra-nationalist parties.

Likud remained firmly on course to win the ballot, but looked set to struggle to form a strong and lasting coalition Government as opinion polls forecast it would win only about 30 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.

"I can fulfil my role only if we will have power in the Knesset," Sharon told supporters at a Sunday night rally in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, where his main rival, the centre-left Labour Party's Amram Mitzna, is mayor.

"Extremist positions will not allow us to get where we need to get to. Therefore there is only one ticket - Likud. All the rest are unstable tickets that mean more elections which we don't need while terrorist attacks are taking place."

A coalition government relying on ultra-nationalists would put Israel at odds with US policy on encouraging Palestinians to end violence and embark on reforms as a step to statehood, and would be expected to struggle to survive for long.

Likud had originally been expected to win 40 parliamentary seats but the figure dwindled over recent weeks as the party became embroiled in a series of corruption scandals.

The drop in seats would make Likud dependent on several other parties to stay in power.

Sharon, 74, reiterated his call for Labour - traditionally one of the two biggest parties along with Likud - to join a national unity Government after the election.

But in a speech to supporters in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, a Likud stronghold, Mitzna, 57, repeated his determination not to join forces with Sharon. Mitzna favours negotiating with Palestinians even as violence rages.

A new opinion poll forecast Likud would win 29 to 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, compared with 19 seats for Labour. The centrist Shinui party was next with 12-13 seats in the poll of 1007 people by the Geocartography Institute conducted on Saturday. It had a 3.1 per cent margin for error.

In a worrying signal for Sharon, Likud and Shinui lost support to smaller parties compared with a similar poll last week.

This could make Likud more vulnerable to demands set by Labour and Shinui in any coalition talks, or force it into forging a coalition consisting only of right-wing parties.

Such a coalition would leave Sharon hostage to other right-wing parties and would be likely to take an even more hawkish line against the 28-month-old Palestinian uprising for an independent state than the current Government.

Sharon has made tough military action against Palestinian militants the bedrock of his campaign.

Likud showed its concern over the unstable outlook for its coalition efforts by announcing a new campaign slogan urging Israelis to vote Likud "or face elections again". Labour has been plagued by rumours it might split in two after the vote.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians mourned their dead and mopped up damage after one of the bloodiest Israeli military operations in the area in months.

Twelve Palestinians were killed, at least eight of them gunmen, in the raid into Gaza City on Sunday. Palestinians said later that a 7-year-old boy and 50-year-old man had also been killed by Israeli gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel mounted its military action after militants in Gaza fired rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, near Sharon's desert ranch, at the weekend.

But shortly after troops pulled out of Gaza City, more rockets were fired into Israel.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: The Middle East