BARAK CALLS FOR NEW ELECTIONS

Jerusalem---28 November.....Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset this evening that he would welcome early national elections. A confident and smiling Barak was responding to an apparent defeat in a move to dissolve his government. "You want elections -- I'm prepared for elections," Barak told the Knesset in response to apparent parliamentary support from all sides for new elections. "I'm not afraid of elections ... I'm proud of what I've done and what my government has done."

A date for new Israeli elections is expected to be agreed upon in the next few days. Elections for Prime Minister and Members of Parliament are expected to take place in the Spring of 2001. Barak is hopefully that by the time new elections take place, that his administration would have reached a peace settlement with the Palestinians. Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier who takes much inspiration from the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, is expected to pursue a platform based on the peace process and Israel's prosperity.