Former Labor chairman will convene thousands of his supporters in an effort to demonstrate his power.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANAmir Peretz 298.88(photo credit: Ori Porat)
Former Labor chairman Amir Peretz will convene thousands of his supporters at the party's Tel Aviv headquarters next Wednesday in an effort to demonstrate his power amid his ongoing battle with his successor, Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Peretz denied reports that he was considering leaving the party and taking his supporters with him to Kadima or a new socioeconomic party.
He said he would challenge Barak from within Labor and outlast him. "I think a party that has no competition is liable to disappear," Peretz said. "I will run for the chairmanship, and whenever the next contest will be I will be ready for it. We will present a new outlook and an alternative leadership for Labor."
Asked whether his dispute with Barak could damage the party, Peretz said that Labor always did better when it had two leaders at its top, as it did with former prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
A day after Barak said that if Peretz acted too independently, he would "be shown the door," Labor Secretary-General Eitan Cabel issued a similar threat.
"I don't think Amir will leave Labor as he did before," Cabel told Israel Radio. "I see Amir Peretz as part of this party, but we cannot accept a cloud hovering over us of someone threatening to leave.
"Whoever wants to leave, can leave."
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