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Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004

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  Barak, who has been trying for a political comeback, apparently underestimated the wall-to-wall hostility toward him in Labor. The party blames him for its misfortunes since he left politics in 2001 after a tumultuous 19-month stint as prime minister. Since then, Barak has spent time abroad, including on the U.S. lecture circuit.

"For the past 3 1/2 years, we have tried to rise from the ruins to which Barak sent us," said Haim Ramon, a senior Labor member. "He hasn't learned a thing."

Analysts said the 62-year-old Barak's comeback appears over before it even started.

"The nerves of this cool-tempered man, who infiltrated the camp of Lebanese terrorists ... didn't withstand his attempt to infiltrate the camp of his own party," commentator Sima Kadmon wrote Wednesday on the front page of the Yediot Ahronot daily, referring to Barak's military past.

Bitter Battle

The Labor meeting Tuesday evening exposed an increasingly bitter leadership battle between Barak and veteran party chief Shimon Peres, also a former prime minister.

The showdown comes at a time when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon needs Labor for his political survival. Sharon presides over a minority coalition and wants Labor to join, mainly to help push through the planned Gaza withdrawal in 2005.

The argument at Tuesday's Labor meeting erupted over an ostensibly procedural issue -- how to decide the date for a party primary.

Peres and his supporters are in no hurry, apparently hoping to buy time for Peres to negotiate a coalition agreement with Sharon. Barak was pushing for a decision Tuesday on setting a primary date.

When Labor lawyer Moshe Shahal stood on stage in the crowded auditorium explaining procedural issues, Barak snapped.

He rushed onstage, grabbed the microphone from Shahal and yelled hoarsely that a secret ballot must be held: "Anything else is an attempt to steal the party, and we will not let this happen in the year 2004, period."

Shahal demanded an apology, saying Barak had turned the gathering of the normally staid Labor Party into something akin to a Likud convention -- a cutting reference to Sharon's hard-line party, known for its lively political theater.

Barak defended his behavior Wednesday as the only way to fight Peres' effort to dictate party decisions. "I am not happy about the way I was forced to act," Barak told Israel Radio. "But I was forced to do so because I want the party to have a real democracy."

Peres said he was "simply ashamed" by Barak's behavior.

Barak took office with high hopes, and withdrew Israeli troops from Lebanon by May 2000. However, he failed to reach promised peace deals with the Palestinians and Syria.

During his term, Barak was often criticized as aloof and unfeeling.

Barak has been trying to show a more emotional side, and the outburst might actually have helped him, commentator Ben Caspit wrote in the Maariv daily. "The public could still interpret this behavior as proof that this man is a human being, after all."

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