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Morning News

Barak Heading for Probable Loss to Sharon in Israeli Elections Next Week

Aired February 1, 2001 - 9:04 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Israelis are poised to vote for prime minister next week, and polls show that Prime Minister Ehud Barak is heading for a probable loss to hard-line leader Ariel Sharon. There is a great deal at stake in this crucial election.

Our bureau chief Mike Hanna joining us now with details from Jerusalem.

Mike, hello.

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Daryn.

Well, when Ehud Barak resigned, he said that this election for a prime minister would be an election for peace. Well, what's happened in this campaign in recent weeks is it's more an election for or against Ehud Barak than for or against peace. All the polls indicate and the media shows that most Israelis going to the polls on Tuesday will be voting against something, rather than for something. And the polls indicate that the person they will be voting against is the incumbent prime minister, Ehud Barak.

The opposition Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon is shown by the latest polls still to be some 20 percentage points ahead. And this is not only being watched in Israel, it's being watched in the region as well, Ariel Sharon regarded by many of the neighboring Arab states as a well-known enemy of peace. And many of the states see an election of Ariel Sharon as prime minister as something that could be threatening to the stability of the region.

This report from CNN's Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN (voice-over): I hate Israel, croons pop singer Shaben Abdrahrheim (ph) to a family audience at Cairo's Feronic (ph) village. Crude lyrics, but they seem to strike a cord in the first Arab country to make peace with Israel.

"I Hate Israel" is one of the most popular songs in Egypt today. Four month of clashes between Palestinians and Israelis have battered Egyptian faith in the peace process and left many wondering whether it makes any difference who wins the Israeli election.

Looking at the violence, few have much good to say about Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

ABDEL MUNEIM SAID, ANALYST: Finally, we have an intifada in which he dealt with it in the most vicious way, ferocious way, using methods of war and separation that was not used even by Netanyahu.

WEDEMAN: But while Barak has been a disappointment for the Arabs, his main opponent, Likud leader Ariel Sharon, inspires Arab alarm, especially among those who remember his role as architect of Israeli's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

ISMAT ABDEL MAGID, SECRETARY GENERAL, ARAB LEAGUE: He's a war criminal. He's a criminal, as -- what he did in Subranchatilla (ph). I mean, his records are very clear to us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the choice was Israeli people to have Sharon with the blood as its hand, it will show that body politic of Israel is not ready for peace.

WEDEMAN (on camera): Posturing and rhetoric aside, Egyptian officials quietly acknowledge the Arabs have few options but to pursue the peace process, regardless of who emerges victorious from the Israeli elections.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNA: Now in this campaign of many twists and turns, there have been some surprising elements. And one is that in the opinion polls -- have shown that if the noble laureate Shimon Peres stood instead of Ehud Barak against Ariel Sharon, then one poll shows that Peres would win. Barak, as I said, would lose by some 20 percentage points, according to polls.

Now, theoretically, up until four days before the election on Tuesday, they can change the candidate. In other words, it would be theoretically possible for Shimon Peres -- Shimon Peres to stand instead of Ehud Barak. That deadline is at 7:00 tomorrow morning Israeli time.

But despite this and despite pressure from many left-wing circles in particular, Ehud Barak has maintained consistently, over recent weeks, that he will not stand down, that he will not allow Shimon Peres to take his place, even though polls that show that Peres would stand a better chance of winning than does Barak.

And in terms of the laws that govern it, in order for Barak to stand down, he's got to agree to stand down. He said repeatedly that there is no that he's going to, so it does appear that it will still be, despite this deadline, Barak against Sharon.

Back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Thank you very much, Mike Hanna, in Jerusalem.

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