MIDDLE EAST: Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday officially launched his bid to oust Ariel Sharon as leader of the ruling Likud party and replace him as prime minister, accusing Mr Sharon at a press conference of having adopted the agenda of the Israeli left.
"Sharon gave and gave and gave, the Palestinians got and got and got, and my question is what did we get? Nothing and nothing and nothing," Mr Netanyahu told a gathering of journalists and supporters in Tel Aviv.
The announcement was not surprising. Mr Netanyahu resigned from the government just days before Israel began its withdrawal earlier this month from the Gaza Strip in protest over the plan, setting up a confrontation with Mr Sharon.
On Monday, the timetable for a likely showdown between the two men - and possibly even general elections - became clearer when a Likud body decided its 3,000-strong hardline Central Committee would vote on September 25th to decide if a leadership primary will be held.
If Mr Netanyahu gets his way then a head-to-head race with Mr Sharon could be set for late November.
If Mr Netanyahu wins the run-off, general elections, currently scheduled for November 2006, could be held as early as January or February next year.
Recent polls have shown Mr Netanyahu with a clear lead over Mr Sharon among party members, many of whom opposed the Gaza withdrawal and are still angry with the prime minister for having ignored a May 2004 internal party referendum that overwhelmingly rejected his plan.
Their desire for revenge is so acute that, even though polls indicate that under Mr Sharon the Likud would win considerably more seats in parliament than under Mr Netanyahu, they are ready to oust the prime minister.
At the Tel Aviv gathering, Mr Netanyahu accused Mr Sharon of abandoning "the principles of the Likud". "He chose a different path, the path of the left," he said.
The riposte from the Sharon camp was swift. Deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert, a Sharon confidante, said Mr Netanyahu would place the Likud in the hands of hardliners.
"What he wants to do is take the state of Israel back into diplomatic isolation, economic boycott, internal disputes, into disagreement with the United States - our greatest friend - Europe and the rest of the world," he told Israel Television.
Mr Sharon had already begun his verbal assault on Mr Netanyahu, asserting in a television interview on Monday night that his former finance minister "panics and loses his cool" and was therefore unfit to "lead a country . . . certainly not a government like Israel's. Here one needs calm."
Mr Sharon will spend the next few weeks trying to win back recalcitrant Central Committee members but, if he fails, he may well take the option favoured by many of his advisers - bolt the Likud and set up a new centre-right party with moderate Likud members.
Polls show Mr Sharon winning more seats than Mr Netanyahu if such a scenario were to materialise.
Another option for Mr Sharon is a fundamental realignment of Israeli politics by setting up a single party with Labour leader Shimon Peres and leader of the centrist Shinui party Tommy Lapid.
Were he to take this road, though, the prime minister might lose support among moderate right-wingers who would prefer Mr Netanyahu to an alliance with the dovish Mr Peres.