I guess, I figured out why Barak did it and what is it that Netaniyahu promised. Netaniyahu needs Barak inside Likud - and that's where it is going. Firstly, Netaniyahu, however sad it sounds, is left of center within his own party: like any party leader he'd prefer to be in the center. Secondly, Barak can strut around in his uniform and medals - Netaniyahu is a relative civilian (to the extent there Israeli civilians at all out there), he needs somebody to cover for him in that dimension.
Yeah it's annoying how people with Netanyahu's military career (an officer in a top unit in the IDF) or even peretz's are considered "civillians". However, I'm not convinced that Barak really will run in the next election, he has become so hated in the general public that he will probably leave politics after the next elections. Of course, if he does leave he could do one of those "leave, wait for people to forget why they don't like me, and then come back" sometime in the future.
So, Barak and, probably, Vilnai (also a general), are going to get a couple of places reasonably high up on the Likud list - Netaniyahu will see to that. These two might also be used to attract some of the old Labor Ashkenazic elite.
Netanyahu doesn't decide the placings in the Likud list, and I really don't see the Likud members voting for Barak in a primary.
The old Ashkenazic elite is never going to vote for Likud regardless of who's in it, but they are becoming becoming a smaller part of the electorate anyway, although Netanyahu might try to attract them anyway.
The other three, I am afraid, have just bought some really sour lemons. Though, Simhon and Noked might be used to attract some of the moshavim and kibbutzim dwellers - rural rightwing commies, for god's sake Smiley)! Still, I have a strong doubt they'd get anything like a realistic spot on any Likud list in the forseeble future.
It's 2011, there are very very few communists in the kibbutzim and moshavim, and certainly not Simhon and Noked.
