MIDDLE EAST: Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon still faces fierce opposition from right-wing opponents in his ruling Likud party who have vowed to overcome a setback in their efforts to oust him.
In the latest in a half-century career of political and military comebacks, Mr Sharon on Monday narrowly saw off a leadership challenge by supporters of his hardline rival, Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, the 77-year-old leader now faces months of fresh battles against opponents in his rightist party angered by his recent move to evacuate all Jewish settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip.
The 3,000-strong Likud Central Committee voted by a slim 104-vote majority against Mr Netanyahu's motion to bring forward party leadership primaries from next April to November.
But the 1,433-to-1,329 vote victory is merely a reprieve for Mr Sharon, who will face a fresh challenge by Mr Netanyahu during the leadership contest next April, with analysts strongly rating his adversary's chances.
Deeply shaken by Mr Sharon's upset victory, Mr Netanyahu yesterday branded the prime minister a "tyrant," claiming that the election was swayed by central committee members who, he said, caved into pressure and offers of patronage jobs.
Mr Netanyahu has vowed to continue his struggle to unseat Mr Sharon, buoyed by the fact that he has majority support among registered Likud members who are entitled to vote in April's leadership primaries.
Some newspaper columnists said yesterday's defeat has tarnished Mr Netanyahu's public image by showing him to be a "loser".
The ballot outcome gives Mr Sharon some breathing space to consider his options, which still include quitting the bitterly divided party and forming a new centrist party to contest early elections.
Polls suggest that any such alliance would be popular with voters, who largely supported Mr Sharon's Gaza initiative.
Mr Sharon's political adviser, Lior Horev, said that if Likud backed the prime minister's major policies, he would stay.
With the bitter internal party divisions rumbling on for the coming months, Mr Sharon will spend his time battling his right-wing challenger, the insecurity making it hard for him to advance peace with the Palestinians.
Mr Sharon yesterday continued his battle against Palestinian militants in Gaza with the fourth day of aerial assaults which destroyed two bridges and two buildings which Israel claimed were used by militants.
The military said 82 Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists were arrested overnight, in addition to 297 alleged militants taken into custody in the previous two days.
Two Palestinian rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed near Israeli border towns, causing no damage or casualties. The launches came despite a pledge by the main Palestinian militant group, Hamas, to halt rocket salvoes. Another faction, Islamic Jihad, also said yesterday that it and other groups had recommitted to "calm" in Gaza, from which Israel withdrew this month after 38 years.
In a separate development, the Palestinian Authority confirmed that shrapnel found in the bodies of people killed in last Friday's blast in northern Gaza came from Hamas's home-made rockets which accidentally exploded.
The results of forensic report by the interior ministry discredit Hamas's claim that Israel was responsible for the blast at a rally which killed at least 16 people and led it to launch rockets at Israeli towns. Israel retaliated by firing missiles at a number of targets in Gaza during air raids and also by launching a massive series of weekend arrests.
Meanwhile, in an indication of a shift in Hamas's strategy, it yesterday released a video of a bound and blindfolded Israeli settler businessman it says it kidnapped and had intended to trade for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. .
The group said it instead killed Sasson Nuriel (51), from the East Jerusalem Jewish settlement of Pisgat Ze'ev, after Israel began raids in the West Bank to arrest alleged Palestinian militants.