Former Diaspora Affairs Minister Natan Sharansky's failed bid to head the Jewish Agency was a victory for political pragmatism at a sensitive time.
Sharansky, who quit the government over his opposition to the disengagement from Gaza, has lost his bid to become head of one of the world's most important Jewish organizations, the Jewish Agency.
A unanimous vote by 115 delegates to the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency's parent organization, instead elected Zeev Bielski, mayor of Raanana, said agency spokesman Yarden Vatikay.
A handful of pro-Sharansky delegates abstained from the vote, and they withdrew his candidacy at the last minute, Vatikay said.
Mainstream Jewish groups backed Bielski, despite concerns about the way Prime Minister Ariel Sharon engineered the mayor's candidacy, over concern that the Jewish Agency head would be out of political sync with the government during the disengagement period.
The Jewish Agency is a quasi-governmental body that promotes Jewish immigration to Israel and works to strengthen ties between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora.
"I think it's very unfortunate for the Jewish Agency and for its future," Sharansky told The Associated Press. "Just at a time when the agency is at one of its lowest positions, when it needs leadership to upgrade its standing, people inside because of some very petty political considerations are taking decisions which are both non-democratic and non-Zionist."
Sharansky absorbed by Right
Sharansky, 57, is a political hard-liner who has consistently expressed his opposition to deals with the Palestinian Authority until it offered practical steps in exchange and democratized its operation. U.S. President George W. Bush has cited him as an inspiration for Washington's campaign for worldwide democracy.
Sharansky, who served nine years in a Soviet prison for his efforts on behalf of fellow Jews, caught Bush's attention with his book, "The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror." Bush invited Sharansky to the White House in November to discuss it.
Sharansky captured the imaginations of many around the world as a human rights activist. But after his arrival in Israel in 1986, he failed to parlay his international reputation into political power.
Sharansky has been far more popular in recent years outside Israel than within the country. His political clout has been limited, and his Yisrael B'Aliyah political party was folded into the Likud after failing to gain much support in the last election. He was then named Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, and had limited resources within that position.
