Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu launched his campaign to oust Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday with a call for settlement building that could lead to a showdown with Israel's US ally.
Staking out the battleground for the right-wing power struggle triggered by Sharon's removal of settlers from occupied Gaza, Netanyahu urged immediate construction on a particularly sensitive West Bank area outside East Jerusalem.
"The time has come to build here and I will build here," Netanyahu told reporters on a tour of the rocky hillside between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, the biggest West Bank settlement.
Sharon himself plans construction in the so-called E1 area despite heavy US criticism and fury from the Palestinians, who say they would be cut off from the holy city they seek as the capital of an eventual state.
Netanyahu declared his challenge to Sharon for leadership of the ruling Likud party on Tuesday, a step that could lead to elections earlier than the due date of November 2006 and is likely to keep any peacemaking with the Palestinians on hold.