Likud vote against Palestinian state plus reax
(13 May 2002) 1. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waiting to vote in secret ballot 2. Polling booth 3. Netanyahu voting 4. Various of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon voting in secret ballot 5. Wide shot of hall 6. Netanyahu and Sharon on stage 7. UPSOUND (Hebrew) Likud party official announcing result of secret ballot: "Against the decision, 669 (cheers from audience), 59 per cent. For the decision 465 (claps from audience)." 8. Pan across audience 9. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minster: "I will continue to lead the state of Israel (cheers) and the people of Israel according to the same ideas that led me always (boos): security for the state of Israel and its citizens and our desire for real peace." 10. Audience 11. Sharon leaving to boos 12. Likud member announcing main vote, pan to audience for show of hands (showing an overwhelming for the motion, and against a Palestinian state) 13. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting supporters after the vote 14. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Former Israeli Prime Minister: "I don't think it was a personal contest, it was a policy issue where the members of the Likud expressed their desire to fight terror and not to create what they believe would be another terrorist state that would threaten Israel, that's all it was. The prime minister and I both belong to the same party, it's the biggest party in Israel, it's united at the end as you saw, both those who supported the prime minister and those who didn't, supported in rejecting this Palestinian terrorist state. We want peace. We want peace with the Palestinians when they abandon terror; we want them to govern themselves, none of us want to govern a single Palestinian; but we want to make sure that the Palestinian self-government does not have certain sovereign powers that threaten the Jewish State." 13. Reverse shot of Netanyahu speaking to journalists STORYLINE: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party voted early on Monday to reject the creation of a Palestinian state, a major defeat for Sharon that he fears will increase international pressure on Israel and tie his hands in potential negotiations. Sharon had strongly opposed the resolution on an eventual Palestinian state and had tried to prevent the vote, but his efforts were rejected and the Likud Central Committee overwhelmingly approved the proposal by a show of hands. Though the party body does not have the power to remove Sharon from office, the vote showed his political weakness in his own camp, could limit his effectiveness and provided an ominous sign for his future leadership of the party ahead of the next election, scheduled for November 2003. Behind the confrontation with Sharon was former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has announced his plans to challenge for the party leadership, hoping to be re-elected as prime minister in place of Sharon. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
