How Far Will Peres and Sharon Go?(Brief Article)

Sometimes the most improbable marriages are the ones that end up lasting the longest. In Israel, a five-month partnership between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres--the hard- charging general and the indefatigable peacenik--has not only yielded the country's most stable government in years, it might also be making possible a redrawing of the political map.

Sources close to Sharon and Peres say that a long-term alliance or even a joint party is being discussed. Both men have their reasons. Sharon's popularity among a broad cross section of Israelis grew enormously when he showed restraint after the suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub on June 1, refusing to launch a massive retaliation. For the same reason, Sharon is miserably weak in his own right-wing party. Just last week, he was heckled at a convention of Likud faithful, who prefer the "any means necessary" rhetoric of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "It's crazy because his approval rating is soaring, but Sharon is very vulnerable in Likud," says one adviser. Peres, whose Oslo peace deal has disintegrated, is no longer the dominant force in his party. Labor will choose a new leader--not him--when it meets in September ...