Top doves quit Israel's Labour Party

Yossi Beilin had no chance of being elected for Labour

Two prominent Israeli doves have left the Labour Party after faring badly in party primaries on Monday.

Yossi Beilin, an architect of the Oslo peace accords, and Yael Dayan, a leading women's rights activist, are joining the secular left-wing Meretz party, its leader Yossi Sarid announced on Wednesday.

A list without Yossi Beilin is a crippled list

Avraham Burg
Labour lawmaker

Mr Beilin's spokesman confirmed the move after new Labour party leader Amram Mitzna failed to persuade the former justice minister to stay in the party.

Under the agreement, Mr Beilin and Ms Dayan will be number 11 and 12 on the Meretz party list in parliamentary elections next month.

Party credentials

Both have impeccable Labour credentials: Mr Beilin was a protege of former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and Mrs Dayan is the daughter of late Defence and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan.

Mr Beilin was a protege of Shimon Peres

But their placement on the Meretz list does not guarantee them seats in the next Knesset, or parliament, since polls suggest Meretz will get between nine and 12 seats in the 120-seat body.

The Meretz party will meet on Thursday to approve the move.

Mr Sarid announced that after the 28 January election, Meretz and Mr Beilin's Shahar movement will form a new social democratic party "which will be home to anyone who views themselves as committed to making peace with our neighbours and social justice at home".

A prominent Labour party supporter of Mr Beilin regretted his departure.

"A list without Yossi Beilin is a crippled list," lawmaker Avraham Burg told the daily newspaper Haaretz.

Labour critic

Mr Beilin was a prominent critic of Labour's agreement to join a unity government with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party in 2000; he left the Knesset in protest against it.

Mr Sharon has run as a moderate

There have been widespread reports that he has continued to negotiate directly with Palestinians on his own initiative during the current uprising.

On Wednesday he said he hoped his move would bolster the peace camp in Israeli politics "in light of extremist trends that characterise elections in Likud and Labour".

The Labour party elected Mr Mitzna, a newcomer to national politics who proposes immediate and unconditional negotiations with the Palestinians, last month.

Likud re-elected Mr Sharon, who campaigned as a moderate, by a large majority soon after.

But in party primaries at the weekend, Likud favoured allies of the more hard-line Foreign Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.