AMRAM MITZNA, the Mayor of Haifa, won the ballot last night to lead the Labour Party into Israel’s next elections, on a platform pledging to withdraw Jewish settlers and soldiers from the occupied territories.

The doveish former general claimed victory shortly before midnight over his opponents — Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the former Defence Minister, and Haim Ramon, another former Cabinet minister.

“This isn’t a victory but rather I have been elected by a majority of members of the Labour Party to lead the Labour Party at such a difficult hour for Israeli society, and this is what I shall do,” he said.

If elected Prime Minister in elections that are scheduled for January, Mr Mitzna has promised to remove all Jews and troops from the Gaza Strip, one of the areas that Israel captured during the 1967 Middle East War.

This would place the entire territory, which is now made up of Jewish settlements, army bases and limited Palestinian self-rule areas, under full control of the Palestinian Authority.

If peace talks with the Palestinians succeeded, then unilateral separation from most, if not all, of the West Bank would follow.

“We will resume negotiations with the Palestinians, but as a first step, not out of goodwill but according to Israel’s interests, pull our forces out from Gaza,” he said on the eve of the ballot.

Still a relative newcomer in Israeli politics, he is the archetypal secular Israeli. This could cost him political support. He told one of Israel’s leading historians: “I am not religious and I don’t believe in God, either.”

Mr Mitzna faces an uphill battle to defeat Israel’s other leading party, the Likud faction, which is being tipped to double its seats in the next Parliament. The next elections are scheduled for January 28.

The contest to lead the Likud is set for November 28, when Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, will be challenged by Binyamin Netanyahu, his Foreign Minister.

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