Israeli Premier Quits Party and Forms His Own

"His clear intention is to proceed with a political process with the Palestinians," a senior Sharon adviser involved in the discussions said of the prime minister. "The current composition of the Likud meant paralysis. He needs space and freedom and support to achieve what he wants to do."

Although broadly popular with the Israeli public, Sharon is taking a risk by leaving Likud, which he helped transform from a group of mostly marginal hawkish parties in 1973 into a coalition that four years later unseated the founding Labor movement in national elections. He gives up the Likud name, financial resources and television advertising time, which in Israel is tied to the number of seats a party holds in parliament. Sharon called Monday for members of the rival Labor Party to join him.

Likud attracted low-income Jews of North African and Middle Eastern descent, who felt ignored by the mostly European-born Labor leadership, as well as religious nationalists who supported Jewish settlement in the territories. Sharon was once the chief political patron of the settlement movement, which now considers him a foe.

Israeli political analysts say Sharon is counting on the continuing loyalty of some Likud voters and fresh support from Israeli doves who backed his Gaza withdrawal but would never, as a matter of principle, vote for a Likud candidate. A recent opinion poll published in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest daily newspaper, showed that a new party under Sharon would win 28 seats in the 120-member parliament, with Labor also taking 28, a seven-seat gain.

The same poll showed that a Likud led by Sharon's chief rival, Binyamin Netanyahu, would lose more than half of its current 40 Knesset seats in voting that included Sharon's new party and others. That would make Likud, which now controls a third of the Knesset, the third-largest party in parliament.

Gideon Ariel, a Likud central committee member who opposes Sharon, described as "a bunch of spin" the polls showing the party foundering without Sharon. Although Likud will likely lose seats in the next elections, he said, the party will grow more popular in the settlement of Maale Adumim east of Jerusalem where he lives.

"It was very uncomfortable for me to promote Likud, the nationalist party, when Ariel Sharon was pushing anti-nationalist policies," Ariel said. "We are now relieved of his punishment -- his pretending that he is a right-wing politician when he is really favoring center-left policies."

Researcher Samuel Sockol contributed to this report.