New Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the offensive in his bid to become Prime Minister, said in an interview published on Thursday that Ariel Sharon’s leadership had left Israel in ‘‘dire straits’’.Netanyahu, a hawkish former prime minister, became Sharon’s subordinate on Wednesday when he took up the Foreign Ministry post, ending three years in the political wilderness. But his plans to challenge Sharon for the leadership of their right-wing Likud party and reclaim the prime minister’s office in Israel’s coming polls heralded weeks of sniping between the two men and paralysis in West Asian peacemaking. ‘‘I am running (for the Likud leadership) because the country is in dire straits and we have to get it out,’’ Netanyahu told The Jerusalem Post. Asked if he thought Sharon was leaving the country in worse shape than he received it on election nearly two years ago, Netanyahu said: ‘‘I think one of the things that we see is the tremendous escalation of (Palestinian) terror.‘‘The economy is in worse shape.A lot of that is derived not so much from the lack of security but from the absence of a coherent economic policy.’’ Netanyahu’s comments signalled that security concerns and the economy would be the main themes of his campaign.Sharon had calculated that bringing Netanyahu into his team could both curb his rival’s criticism of him before the Likud primary and give Israel an eloquent defender abroad of the tough government line on a Palestinian uprising.Asked about Palestinian statehood, Netanyahu said: ‘‘I think we have to resist and I think we can and must resist the Palestinians’ efforts to achieve powers that would endanger the state of Israel, like the fielding of an Army.’’ (Reuters)
