[Patti_ORiley]

I love Netanyahu! -- but can't say I know the politics behind a predicted Likud split.

[anotherview]

You love Netanyahu because he is an eloquent speaker. He was a lousy Prime Minister and he is putting his personal ambition ahead of what is good for his party or Israel as a whole. There was a reason that he lost to Sharon by a landslide in the last Likud primary just as there was a reason that he lost in a landslide to Barak when he stood for reelection. The right abandoned him then and brought down the government over Wye River and pulling out of Hebron. He isn't half the leader Prime Minister Sharon is.

Yes, Bibi speaks well. Let him be a spokesman but keep him away from the reigns of power.

[jz638]

Sharon is in power but not popular in his party because his support for the disengagement was not all that popular with many Likud members who believe that he just signed over the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank to terrorists. Netanyahu, (who voted with Sharon for the disengagement) quit his post to look like an opposition candidate to Sharon within the Likud when the terrorists do take over those territories, which isn't a big gamble on his part. Uzi Landau is betting against both men and trying to slide into power while the two others bicker and call each other names. I'm sure I missed some things, but that's the gist of it.