ANXIOUS to capitalise on his strong lead in opinion polls, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, seems almost certain to bring forward general elections.
And gradually realising that a peace treaty with Syria is still a long way off, he is likely to call elections in June or even May, instead of their scheduled date in late October.
Currently on a visit to London, Mr Peres was determinedly coy yesterday when pressed by Israeli journalists about his election date strategies. But the secretary general of his governing Labour Party, Mr Nissim Zvilli, said earlier this week that May 15th was now the preferred date.
The Prime Minister's reluctance to commit himself to early elections just yet may be partly a courtesy to the US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, who is due to visit the Middle East next week in a last ditch effort to secure a pre election breakthrough in Israeli Syrian peace negotiations. Mr Peres may well feel that to announce an early election date now would effectively doom Mr Christopher's mission before it has begun.
Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the main opposition Likud party, accused Mr Peres yesterday of violating a commitment not to make political capital out of the assassination of the former prime minister, Mr Yitzhak Rabin.
Mr Peres, he charged, was hoping to seize the post assassination sympathy vote by holding a snap election before that support dissipated. Nevertheless, he insisted, the Likud would prevail in elections whenever they were held.
Recent public opinion surveys suggest the contrary. A poll last weekend in the Ma'ariv daily showed Mr Peres some 20 per cent clear of Mr Netanyahu in the race for the premiership, with Labour also likely to strongly out score the Likud in Knesset seats.
Two factors are likely to prove crucial, whenever the balloting is held. A resurgence of Islamic extremism would work to Mr Netanyahu's advantage, rekindling Israeli security fears while a continued lull in radical violence, combined with Palestinian moves to annul those sections of the PLO covenant which call for Israel's destruction, would almost certainly secure victory for Mr Peres.
Significantly, perhaps, there were reports yesterday that Mr Yasser Arafat hopes to arrange to amend the PLO charter in early April timing that would certainly boost Mr Peres's fortunes if elections were held soon after.