Huge news from Israel, where Ariel Sharon is going to announce he will be leaving the Likud to start a new “centrist” poitical party.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will announce on Monday that he intends to quit the Likud and form a new centrist political party, sources close to Sharon said on Sunday.

Sharon is to visit President Moshe Katsav on Monday and ask him to dissolve the Knesset. This would set off a process that would lead to elections in 90 days, unless an MK succeeds in forming a new coalition within the next three weeks.

Sharon will not rely on a bill to disperse the Knesset that was set for Monday and delayed until Wednesday because Shas declined to remove its no-confidence motion from Monday’s Knesset agenda.

The prime minister was due to make an announcement before Monday’s Likud faction meeting.

Sharon met Sunday with Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson, who have said they would follow him to a new party. Fourteen other Likud MKs have said they would join Sharon, including Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra, and Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit.

Following the reported departure, the entire political system bustled with responses. On the left side of the political spectrum, Meretz-Yahad Chairman Yossi Beilin saw the new political constellation as a victory for those who want to divide the land . “The split in the Likud creates a real opportunity for a coalition headed by the peace camp along with former Likud MKs who have finally understood that for 38 years they misled the nation and themselves and that the dream of the undivided land is a false one and is dangerous,” Beilin said.