JERUSALEM, Nov. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Veteran Israeli politician Shimon Peres said on Wednesday he was leaving the Labor Party to support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new centrist party in early general elections in March.

    Peres told a press conference in Tel Aviv that he was supporting Sharon as the person who had the best chance of restarting the peace process with the Palestinians. "My period of service within the (Labor) party has come to an end," said the 82-year-old former prime minister who has been apart of the center-left party for nearly sixty years. Peres lost the race for Labor chairman three weeks ago to trade union chief Amir Peretz. Enditem