Israel's Labour Party has selected former general Mr Binyamin Ben- Eliezer for the post of defence minister today, and he immediately called on Palestinians to curb violence and talk peace.
The Iraqi-born Mr Ben-Eliezer (65) won 44.9 per cent of the vote to beat two other former generals, Gen Ephraim Sneh and Gen Matan Vilnai, in voting by the party's 1,600-member Central Committee for the defence slot in the left-right unity government being formed by Prime Minister-elect Mr Ariel Sharon.
Mr Ben-Eliezer said his priorities were restoring Israelis' security after five months of a Palestinian uprising and convincing Palestinians it is best to adopt the negotiating table as the battlefield and not mutual killing.
The latest death in the Gaza Strip occurred today shortly before the Labour vote began in Tel Aviv.
The army said its troops had killed a man suspected of planning to attack Israelis, though Palestinians said he was an innocent, homeless Palestinian known locally as crazy Joseph.
The incident took place on a road linking Netzarim Jewish settlement in Gaza with the Karni crossing to Israel. The road has been a flashpoint of violence during more than five months of Israeli- Palestinian bloodshed.
Nobel peace laureate Mr Shimon Peres (77) was unopposed in his bid to be Labour's nominee for foreign minister in the coalition which the party agreed this week to form with the rightist Likud party led by Mr Sharon (73).
The committee also chose six other Labour nominees for cabinet posts – Mr Sneh Vilnai, Mr Salah Tarif, Mr Raanan Cohen, Mr Dalia Itzik and Mr Shalom Simhon.
The appointment of Labour Knesset member Mr Tarif as a minister is seen as a political benchmark decision.
An Arab, Mr Tarif, a member of a Druze community, is the first non- Jew to serve as a government minister since Israel was founded in 1948.
The Druze - from a tiny branch of Islam founded in the 11th century - are more integrated into Israeli society than Palestinian citizens of Israel and are the only Arab community in the Jewish state required to serve in the army.
AFP &