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  Israel's Likud Finds Itself in a Free Fall
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ContributorArmyDem 
Last EditedArmyDem  Dec 08, 2005 10:07pm
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CategoryNews
MediaNewspaper - Los Angeles Times
News DateFriday, December 9, 2005 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionFor decades, the party has dominated politics. But Sharon's departure has led to a humbling turnabout for the powerhouse movement.

December 8, 2005
Latimes.com : World News
By Laura King, Times Staff Writer

JERUSALEM — Not so long ago, any politician from Israel's conservative Likud Party could count on a consistently warm reception in the country's open-air produce markets. The cramped rows of stalls heaped with fresh tomatoes and fragrant spices had been the movement's heartland for as long as anyone could remember.

So when Uzi Landau, then a contender for the Likud leadership, toured a Tel Aviv market recently, he had reason to hope for the usual friendly meet-and-greet with vendors. Instead, he found himself heckled and booed.

"You wrecked the Likud!" a fruit seller shouted. "It's a shipwreck!" yelled a fishmonger.

Landau was hustled away by aides who said a case of laryngitis had prevented him from speaking at length to his constituents.

More than two weeks after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon broke away from the Likud, declaring that its goals were no longer compatible with the national interest, the country's powerhouse political movement appears to have dwindled to a shadow of itself.

Polls have indicated that if elections were held now, instead of March 28 as scheduled, Likud would rank as the fourth-largest party, falling from 40 parliamentary seats to as few as nine. It ranked behind even the relatively small ultra-Orthodox party Shas, never a contender for the country's leadership.

For the Likud, every passing day seems to bring some fresh disaster. On Wednesday, acting Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi abandoned the Likud and joined Sharon's new party.

It has been a humbling turnabout for a party that has been a dominant force in Israeli politics since the 1970s, either as the ruling power or as a formidable, well-organized opposition.
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