Israel's opposition Labor Party now has a new leader, who is calling for an immediate resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians. In Tuesday's leadership election, Mr. Amram Mitzna, the mayor of Haifa, won an easy victory over Mr. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the party chief who had served as defense minister in the coalition government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Labor will confront the rightwing Likud Party in a general election scheduled for Jan. 28.
Prospects for a Labor win appear to be slim, however, with polls predicting a solid lead for Likud. The challenge for Mr. Mitzna is to revive the image of his left-center party as a peacemaker -- an image that had been badly tarnished during its 20 months of cooperation with the hardline government of Prime Minister Sharon. Last month Labor quit the coalition over a budget dispute involving Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
Mr. Mitzna, who was described as a "Labor outsider" during the coalition days, is the standard bearer of Israeli-Palestinian rapprochement. His rise to the top, coming at a time when public opinion in Israel appears to be shifting further to the right, is significant. It shows that there still remains a large body of opinion in favor of peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians.