Mr. Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is known as "the bulldozer." The nickname is the result of his willingness to run over obstacles that he has encountered throughout his career. Recently, however, Mr. Sharon has demonstrated an agility and deftness that is most un-bulldozer-like. After engineering the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Gaza earlier this year, the prime minister last week quit the Likud Party he helped found and formed a new center party to contest elections next year. These are bold moves that could reshape Israeli politics -- and perhaps lead to a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Mr. Sharon's decision to bolt Likud was the product of rising frustration with the party. The prime minister says he is ready to make a genuine peace with Palestinians -- with the accent on "genuine" -- but he has been challenged by hardliners on his right who are angered by his readiness to abandon the Gaza settlements. Leading the charge is former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long chafed under Mr. Sharon's leadership.

At the same time, the left-leaning Labor Party, which had joined Mr. Sharon's government, has new leadership of its own. Mr. Amir Peretz, a union leader, defeated former party head Shimon Peres and immediately took the party out of Mr. Sharon's government. That move isolated the prime minister within his own government and prompted Mr. Sharon's decision to quit the party.