Jerusalem
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon salvaged his government this week by inviting the opposition Labor Party into his governing coalition. Sharon lost his majority in the Knesset last month, when two small right-wing parties pulled out of the coalition with the ruling Likud Party. Labor, led by former foreign minister and veteran peacemaker Shimon Peres, agreed to the alliance to help ensure that the planned Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza goes forward. The left-wing Labor Party has been part of ruling coalitions with right-wing Likud before, most recently in 2001, when it joined Sharon’s government. That alliance only lasted a year.
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