Sharon dissolves Israeli parliament

JERUSALEM -- In a surprise move, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday dissolved parliament and called elections early next year after he failed to rebuild his crumbling government.\nSharon's challenger in upcoming primaries for leadership of the Likud party, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then announced he would serve as Sharon's foreign minister until the election.\nThe official Government Gazette said the election would be Jan. 28, according to the office of parliamentary spokesman Giora Pordes.\nThe dramatic developments throw Israel into a turbulent election campaign at a time when the nation is facing severe problems -- the 2-year-old conflict with the Palestinians, a deepening economic crisis and the possibility of an Iraqi attack on Israel in the event of a U.S. strike against Saddam Hussein.\nSharon said he made the decision reluctantly, but that he had no choice because the alternative would have been worse. "Elections are the last thing this country needs right now," Sharon told a hastily called news conference at his office.\nHe chided his former allies in the moderate Labor Party and a far-right party, the National Union-Israel Beitenu, blaming them for the end of his 20-month-old government. Israel has had five prime ministers in the past seven years.\nWhile there had been expectations that Sharon would be forced into early elections, the speed of the announcement took many by surprise. Many believed Sharon would spend more time trying to lure the National Union into his coalition.\nThe Jan. 28 elections leave less than three months for campaigning, and both Sharon and the main opposition party, Labor, face leadership primaries this month.\nNabil Abu Rdeneh, an adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said he hopes Israelis will choose a different government. "What we are interested in right now is an Israeli government which is committed to the peace process, because the current government has failed in achieving peace and stability in the region," Abu Rdeneh said.\nPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat is sure to be a leading campaign issue. Sharon has sought to marginalize Arafat, but has refrained from expelling him from the Palestinian territories.\nNetanyahu has called for driving Arafat into exile and dismantling the Palestinian Authority that Arafat has led for the past eight years.