BINYAMIN NETANYAHU announced yesterday that he would stand against Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, for the leadership of the Likud Party, a move that could herald a significant realignment of the country’s politics.

Flanked by right-wing supporters, Mr Netanyahu, who resigned as Finance Minister three weeks ago, staked his claim to supplant the 77-year-old former general as leader of the party that the pair have dominated for the past decade.

The immediate cause is Mr Netanyahu’s opposition to Mr Sharon’s controversial pullout from Gaza. “Sharon gave and gave some more. The Palestinians got more and more and more,” Mr Netanyahu said. “What did we get in return? The Gaza Strip is turning into a base for Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda and the terrorists’ motivation is growing stronger.”

While opinion polls indicate that 59 per cent of Israelis back the disengagement, Mr Netanyahu has a significant lead among Likud activists.

The bitter internal rivalry and the Palestinian elections that are scheduled for January are likely to stall any further peace initiatives. Although Mr Sharon’s four-year term does not expire for more than a year, analysts predict elections as early as next spring.

Announcing his candicacy, Mr Netanyahu was surrounded by supporters who included Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident turned Israeli hawk, and a cluster of Likud party rebels.

“I intend to lead the party to victory in the coming elections and form the next government,” Mr Netanyahu said, accusing Mr Sharon of turning his back on the party he helped to found. “We have to restore to the Likud and the State the principles that Sharon trampled on.”

Mr Netanyahu can count on support within the 3,000-member Likud Central Committee, many of whom feel betrayed by Mr Sharon’s plan to withdraw from 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.

Hanan Kristal, an Israeli political analyst, said: “Sharon has three options: to go home, to run against Bibi [Mr Netanyahu] or to form his own party. The last is most likely to happen.” He estimated that only 40 per cent of Likud’s 150,000 party members support the incumbent. “He will try to head an independent list together with a line of highly respected politicians.”

These may include a rump of Likud loyalists, Shimon Peres, of the Labour Party, and Tommy Lapid, the Shinui Party leader.

Yaron Ezrahi, a Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said: “If Netanyahu wins the primaries, Likud then will become a sectarian party instead of a mass party with a wide national appeal. Most analysts think that Netanyahu, heading such a party, does not stand a chance against Sharon heading an independent list together with Lapid and Peres.”

Ben Caspit, the leading analyst for the Ma’ariv newspaper, wrote: “This will be one of the fiercest and dirtiest battles the country has ever known.”

Sharon aides have smeared Mr Netanyahu as a pollster-fixated opportunist who talked tough before his own 1996-99 tenure as Prime Minister, then gave away the ancient Jewish city of Hebron to the Palestinians and shook hands with Yassir Arafat, something Mr Sharon always refused to do.

On Monday night Mr Sharon weighed in, excoriating his younger rival on Israeli television as “an uptight and pressurable individual who panics and loses his wits”. However, the Prime Minister has been damaged by his perceived abandonment of the settlers, and criminal charges filed against his eldest son, Omri.

BINYAMIN NETANYAHU

Born 1949, in Tel Aviv

Educated Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1967-73 Soldier and commando captain

1982 Deputy Chief of Mission, Israeli Embassy, Washington

1984-88 Israeli Ambassador to United Nations

1988 Enters Knesset and Cabinet as Deputy Foreign Minister

1996 Prime Minister

1998 Signs Wye River peace accord with Palestinians

1999 Loses power in early election

2002-03 Foreign Minister

2003-August 2005 Finance Minister. Resigns in protest at the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza

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