Mordechai joins Netanyahu opponents

By Dafna Linzer, Associated Press writer

TEL AVIV, Israel -- A day after being fired as defense minister, Yitzhak Mordechai said yesterday that he would join old friends and former generals in a new party trying to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mordechai described his experience in Netanyahu's hard-line government as a time among "haters of peace," and yesterday he made the traditional rounds of a candidate for prime minister.

Netanyahu fired Mordechai, who had opposed the prime minister's freezing of the U.S.-brokered Wye peace deal with the Palestinians, on Saturday and gave him 48 hours to clear out his desk. Mordechai received his dismissal letter moments before Netanyahu read a copy on national television, accusing Mordechai of making overtures to his election rivals.

Yesterday, Mordechai appeared before supporters and announced his allegiance to the centrist party while denouncing Netanyahu.

"I'm embarking, just at the right time, on a new path with wonderful people," he said, calling the leaders of the as-yet unnamed centrist party "the perfect bunch of people to bring change to Israel."

He has yet to declare his candidacy for the May 17 elections, but the nascent party's leaders -- former army chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former Tel Aviv Mayor Roni Milo and former Finance Minister Dan Meridor -- have all but handed the mantle to him.

The four men met earlier yesterday to discuss strategy and were expected to announce their party platform Monday.

Earlier yesterday, Mordechai left his last Cabinet meeting and went to Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site and a traditional first stop for candidates. After prayers, Mordechai quoted Psalm 120 as a final, barbed statement to his former colleagues in the Cabinet.

"Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue," he read from the psalm. " ... Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace but when I speak, they are for war."

Mordechai long has been seen as a moderate in a Cabinet dominated by hard-liners in the peace process and supporters of aggressive expansion of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories.

His latest dispute came over the Wye accords, which Netanyahu froze in December, accusing the Palestinians of noncompliance. Mordechai, a favorite of the United States, wanted to forge ahead with the deal.

Netanyahu accused Mordechai on Saturday of duplicity, saying he had negotiated with the centrist party even as he sought guarantees from Netanyahu that he would remain defense minister in any future government.

A poll carried out by the Yediot Ahronot newspaper showed that 52 percent of voters believed Mordechai would make a "suitable" prime minister. Forty-six percent disagreed and 2 percent had no opinion. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Mordechai, born in a Kurdish area of Iraq 54 years ago, is popular among Jews of Middle East origin and would be the first serious candidate for prime minister from that background.

Many Palestinians also consider him distinct from Netanyahu's hard-line policies on peace.

"He is a man of his word, and most of the time the word was broken not by him but by others in the government," top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told The Associated Press.

Netanyahu has offered the defense ministry to Moshe Arens, his rival for the Likud leadership in primaries to be held this week. Arens, who has served as defense and foreign minister in earlier governments, said he would decide whether to accept after the primaries.