Posted on 07/29/2002 5:41:46 AM PDT by krodriguesdc
David Levy quits coalition government
Xinhuanet 2002-07-29 02:38:48
JERUSALEM, July 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli Minister without Portfolios David Levy Sunday resigned from his post in protest overproposed budget cuts, putting the coalition government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon into crisis.
In a strongly-worded letter to the prime minister, Levy, chairman of the Gesher party and former foreign minister, said he had quit the coalition government because the proposed budget cuts would reduce the lower strata of the Israeli society to "abject poverty."
He told Sharon that "the proposal put forward in recent days, which has earned your support, shows a profound lack of awareness of the distress of thousands of families in Israel, and condemns them to a life of abject poverty and loss of personal and civil dignity."
"The proposal not only contains gross injustice and hard-heartedness, it is also shortsighted regarding the devastating results it is sure to have," Levy added.
According to the proposal, announced by Israeli Finance MinisterSilvan Shalom on Friday, next year's budget, which will be 262.213 billion new Israeli shekels (NIS)(58.269 billion US dollars), will be cut by 8.7 billion NIS (about 1.9 billion dollars), with 3 billion NIS (670 million dollars) and 2.5-3 billion NIS (560-670 million dollars) cuts in defense budget and national insurance benefits.
The remainder of the cut will come primarily from the education, housing and industry and trade budgets.
The Labor party, as well as Meretz and even individual members of the government have seriously rebuked the plan.
Ministers of the Labor Party on Sunday decided to vote against the treasury's proposals at its Tuesday's cabinet meeting if there are not significant changes to the proposed cuts. Enditem
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