Sharon has quit Likud to form a new centrist party ahead of elections in early spring. From the Christian Science Monitor:
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, rarely one to wait for others to act first, made a series of preemptive political strikes Monday that laid the groundwork for a new centrist party and may cement his position as Israel’s premier hawk-made-moderate.
After resigning from the hard-line Likud on Sunday and calling for early elections in March, Mr. Sharon Monday announced the formation of the National Responsibility Party. If successful, Sharon’s new party could transcend Israel’s right-left divide and claim a mandate for negotiating a settlement to the Israel-Palestinian conflict…
“The Likud in its present configuration cannot lead the nation to its goals,” said Sharon – the first sitting Israeli prime minister to quit his party – at a press conference to announce the formation of National Responsibility. The Gaza pullout created a “historic opportunity,” he said. “I will not allow anyone to squander it.”…
“Sharon doesn’t care if this is a one-term party,” says Ethan Dor-Shav, a political analyst and associate fellow at Jerusalem’s Shalem Center.
“He doesn’t need to run again, and it’s going to be stated quite clearly that this will be a last time for him,” he says, “and that he will reach a final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority, one that will determine borders, within the next four years.”