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Israel's Peres Quits Labour, Says Sharon Best Person to Head Coalition for Peace

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 15:00 CST

Text of statement by former Israeli Labour Party leader and MK Shimon Peres at news conference in Tel Aviv broadcast live Israeli Channel 2 TV on 30 November

Good evening. This was a very difficult day for me. I asked myself what key issues the state of Israel will be facing in the coming years, this year. I have no doubt that it will be the inevitable combination of peace and progress in the political process.

I asked myself how I can contribute in the coming years and the answer was: in promoting the peace process that will also lead to economic prosperity and social justice.

I do not believe that the peace process can be promoted in the current political constellation. It can be achieved only by a coalition that strives for peace and development. In my view, the man who is best qualified to head that coalition - based on results - is Arik [Ariel] Sharon. I held talks with Arik and I am convinced that he is determined to pursue the peace process and to start doing so immediately after the elections. I found him to be attentive to creative ideas that can lead to peace and security. I therefore decided to support his election and to cooperate with him in achieving these aims.

Reaching this conclusion was not easy for me. I found contradictions between the party a member of which I am and the current political situation, and despite my spiritual connection to the party's historical path, to thousands of its members, I am forced to prefer the pressing, greater concerns.

I learned from my mentor David Ben-Gurion to place the country above the party. My party activity has come to an end, but my contribution to peace and development of the Negev and Galilee will go on. I decided to devote the coming years to making a contribution to the supreme effort to achieve peace between us and our neighbours amid cooperation among ourselves.

In the talks I held with Arik, we discussed the expansion of peace and development and, in addition to the road map, creating an economic Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian triangle. We will act towards achieving special EU status for this economic triangle, raise large- scale international - government and private - funds for it, and launch talks with the United States to guarantee this region's security against the Iranian peril and rampaging terror.

Profound concern and high hopes require unorthodox and definitely not facile decisions, but we must not run away from the need to decide. It was not easy for me, but I chose, I made my decision. Thank you very much. [Peres refuses to answer reporters' questions]

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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