Posted on 01/11/2005 2:25:59 PM PST by anotherview
Jan. 11, 2005 20:34 | Updated Jan. 11, 2005 23:17
B> Rebels to decide government's fate
By NINA GILBERT AND GIL HOFFMAN
The fate of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's two-day-old national-unity government will be decided on Wednesday morning when the so-called rebels convene at the Knesset to decide how they will vote on the 2005 state budget.
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu brought the budget before the Knesset for a first reading for a second time on Tuesday without knowing for certain whether he would have a majority to get it approved on Wednesday.
The budget deals totaling NIS 890 million with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new coalition partners - the Labor Party and United Torah Judaism - were not enough to guarantee a majority, because the 13 rebels are undecided on how they will vote.
Sharon also will not be able to rely on outside help from Yahad and Arab parties on the budget like he did to get the Knesset to approve his new 64-MK coalition on Monday night.
Netanyahu and Sharon's associates personally called each of the rebels and pleaded with them to support the budget. Netanyahu stressed in the calls that no funding connected to disengagement would be included in Wednesday's vote. He also appealed to the rebels from the Knesset podium.
"You were partners to the accomplishments and the success, and we don't stop midway," Netanyahu said. "I expect your support in all three readings for the budget."
At press time, the rebels were split on how to act. Five said they wanted to vote in favor of the budget: Ehud Yatom, Michael Gorlovsky, Haim Katz, Moshe Kahlon and Lea Nass. MKs Ayoub Kara, Yuli Edelstein and David Levy don't want the group to support the budget. Rebel leader Uzi Landau intends to urge the rebels to vote as a group.
"We should send a message to Sharon that if there is no referendum on disengagement we won't support him," Edelstein said. If the group abstains, Sharon won't have a majority to pass the budget. Sharon's associates threatened to initiate early elections already on Wednesday if the budget does not obtain a majority
"We have done everything possible to avoid elections, but if we absolutely must, all of Sharon's advisers agree that this is the best time for elections," a senior Sharon adviser said.
Sharon's associates and the rebels agreed that despite the divisions, there should not be a formal split in the Likud, but they agreed that there already is a split de facto. Sharon loyalists urged that the rebels be punished via Knesset sanctions.
A group of 60 top Likud activists met at the party's Tel Aviv headquarters with Likud Director-General Arik Brami and called upon the rebels to vote in favor of the budget and "not tear the thin political rope" the government is resting on.
Two months ago, Netanyahu submitted the budget to the Knesset, but was forced to cancel the vote after failing to secure a majority. In December, the bill was rejected in first reading after Shinui voted against to protest the cash deal with UTJ. The government was forced to resubmit the bill from scratch.
In his address to the Knesset, Netanyahu said the budget deficit target was breached by 0.4 percent only to finance the some NIS 2 billion disengagement plan. The actual deficit expansion clause was moved from the budget bill to the disengagement implementation bill to prevent the Likud MKs from rejecting the budget.
Netanyahu said the coalition agreements and the Dovrat educational reform would be financed by an across-the-board cut to ministerial budgets. He also pledged to reduce taxes by another NIS 2 billion in 2005. According to Netanyahu, the Wisconsin plan to get welfare recipients back to work is to start within a few months in four locations, and is to be quickly expanded.
Since January 1, the state has been operating according to the 2004 budget. If the Knesset does not approve a budget by March 31, the Knesset is automatically dissolved. Netanyahu called on the Knesset to get the budget quickly.
Shinui and opposition leader Yosef Lapid told Netanyahu that he is already close to NIS 1 billion in deviation from the budget. Lapid said he was sure the NIS 290 million for United Torah Judaism was just a "first helping." The funds are to go to yeshivas.
The Labor Party got NIS 600m., mostly for the health system and the elderly.
Yahad MK Yossi Sarid said Yahad could not be expected to support the "piggishness" of the budget. "Should we take responsibility for the unemployed?" he said.
Shas chairman Eli Yishai called the budget "bad and harsh," saying it would bring more cuts to child allowances and push more children under the poverty line.
It would really be something if members of the Likud bring down a Likud government. I think Labour and Shinui are enjoying this very much.
Sharon has betrayed the Likud party, in my opinion. Netanyahu would have been far better. But I'm not sure what will happen if they bring down the government at this stage.
Sharon is a joke as much as Peres
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