Posted on 12/20/2004 1:16:04 PM PST by anotherview
Dec. 19, 2004 23:40 | Updated Dec. 20, 2004 22:23
Labor, Likud to sign deal Tuesday
By GIL HOFFMAN AND NINA GILBERT
After nearly two days of delay since Likud and Labor reached a coalition agreement, the two parties have announced that they will finally sign on the deal Tuesday evening, after the Labor party's central committee meeting.
The signing was enabled after a preliminary vote in the Knesset on the "double deputy prime minister" bill approved it 56 to 34 on Monday night. The bill, popularly dubbed the "Peres bill," was aimed at resolving the crisis in unity negotiations between Labor and Likud by appointing Shimon Peres as a second vice premier, alongside current vice premier Ehud Olmert.
Following its approval, the Knesset Law Committee is preparing the bill for its first reading in the Knesset on Tuesday. Since the Shas party decided to support the bill, it is expected to pass easily when it is presented to parliament.
The Shas party decided to support the bill as a sign of recognition to Labor leader Shimon Peres for his good relationship with the party over many years, Army Radio reported, thus giving it majority backing in the Knesset.
A meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and opposition leader Shimon Peres in the Knesset ended as a stony-faced Peres left the prime minister's office Monday evening.
The two discussed ways to remove the last obstacle to Labor's joining the government, including amending Basic Law to permit Peres to be sworn in as a second vice premier, to serve alongside Ehud Olmert who is already carrying out that position.
"The prime minister knows that there is a problem and he will try to solve it,"a spokesperson for Peres said.
"We are working getting the law changed by the end of the week," Sharon's aides assured.
"There will be a government," Sharon said on Monday when speaking to reporters at Beit Hanassi following a regular breakfast meeting with President Moshe Katsav.
The signing of a coalition agreement between Likud and Labor was put on hold on Sunday after Peres instructed his party's representatives not to sign the deal until his role in the government is clarified.
Responding to a question on the powers that would be vested in a second vice prime minister, Sharon made it absolutely clear that in the event that he would not be able to perform his duties, current deputy premier Ehud Olmert would step in to fill the breach. "Olmert has done his job well," he said, "and when the prime minister cannot fulfill his responsibilities, it will be Olmert who takes over."
The dispute over Peres's position led a list of four roadblocks that prevented the completion of a deal, including the question of when Labor can approve its ministers, opposition by elements in Labor's central committee, and a threat by so-called Likud rebels to block a unity government in the Knesset.
Likud chief negotiator Yoram Raved sent Labor a final draft of the coalition agreement, but Labor decided to condition signing it on the Likud agreeing to allow Peres to take over the deputy premiership from Ehud Olmert. Without the title, Peres would be left with no official capacity in the new government.
"This condition is a deal breaker," Peres told confidants. "Sharon promised me the deputy premiership and this is why I conceded the Foreign Ministry."
The coalition agreement states that the Likud would initiate a change in the Basic Law to allow the appointment of a second deputy premier, who would carry the title but would not take over for the prime minister in the event of illness. But until the bill is enacted, clause 5 of Basic Law: The Government permits only one vice premier, and Olmert rejected Labor's demand to temporarily relinquish the post to Peres.
Asked by reporters whether he was ashamed to be changing the country's Basic Law to get a government position, Peres said, "Shame? Me? What do I have to be ashamed of? What is this chutzpah? How dare you preach to me?
Peres made the comments to reporters between meetings with Likud Law Committee Chairman MK Michael Eitan and Prime Minister Sharon.
Israel's current deputy premier Ehud Olmert told reporters that he was "deputy premier number one and you heard Sharon say I will stay number one."
"This is not a matter of me making a personal concession, but a principled political question of the highest regard," Olmert said. "There could be, God forbid, a situation in which the prime minister cannot carry out his position, and then the question will arise of who will act as his substitute. Obviously, the Likud is unwilling to take the risk that that the prime minister will not be a member of the Likud."
Sharon's spokesman said the prime minister is completely on Olmert's side in this debate. He said Peres could make do with a new title of "associate prime minister" until the law is changed, but Labor rejected the title. Sharon urged Labor to sign the deal and allow the new government to move ahead.
Labor MK Haim Ramon submitted legislation on Monday to permit the Peres appointment. But the bill, which would require 61 MKs to pass, is expressed to face stiff opposition from many MKs in Likud and even Yahad. Knesset Law Committee chairman Michael Eitan (Likud) said it could take weeks or even months to change the statute and added that he opposes expediting the bill.
"Changing the Basic Law for your own needs sends a message that we have no state of law," Eitan said. "It is not just a matter of pressing a couple buttons. If it was something critical, I would understand; but it is only a pivotal matter, in that it touches Peres' ego. Peres can wait patiently and concentrate in the meantime on making the Negev bloom."
In order to help Ramon's bill pass its first reading on Monday, Labor delayed to Tuesday its central committee meeting that is set to approve the coalition deal and select a method for electing Labor's ministers. A second central committee meeting to vote for ministers will be held on either Wednesday or Thursday, depending on which method is chosen.
The 2,400-member committee will decide between holding separate elections for each portfolio or voting for five candidates and letting top vote-getters select portfolios in order. If the latter method is chosen, the election could be Wednesday and there is still a chance that the government could be formed by the end of the week. If the ministers are not elected Wednesday, swearing-in ceremonies will have to be delayed until next week.
The passage of the coalition deal in the central committee is not a foregone conclusion. Representatives of four powerful Labor sectors (kibbutzim, moshavim, Arabs, and Druse) warned on Sunday that they would oppose the deal if their interests are not properly addressed in it.
Even if the coalition deal reaches the Knesset this week, there is a chance it will not pass. Several so-called Likud rebels, including Michael Ratzon, Yuli Edelstein, and David Levy have said that they may vote against or abstain on appointing Labor ministers. Only fives votes against in the Likud could block the 64-MK coalition from being approved.
Unity opponents in the Likud criticized Sharon for not doing enough to try to bring Shas into the government. Sharon met Shas chairman Eli Yishai on Sunday and the two decided to maintain an open channel of dialogue in case diplomatic and socioeconomic developments allow the party to join the coalition at a later stage.
The Likud negotiating team met with United Torah Judaism MKs for several hours on Sunday night but had not yet finalize an agreement.
Greer Cashman contributed to this report.
Israeli politics are insane.
On the other hand, you can see the same mechanics in motion on a daily basis as you saw in the regular bad decisions of the ancient Hebrews... the golden calf, etc.
And they wonder why use American Jews won't make aliya in large numbers...?
Yassir Arafat also held onto power far too long.
Not to mention that they are ready to crucify any soldier who is too vigorous in defending himself or his nation. They constantly withdraw when they have the terrorists on the run and let them regroup. If I lived in Israel I would have a hard time advising my son to go into the IDF.
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