Price For Narrow Coalition:Hawkish Gov't After Election

Ha'aratz ^ | 11/04/02 | Yossi Verter

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On Sunday, sources close to Sharon said that Netanyahu's offer to take over as foreign minister in a narrow, Sharon-led government, was nothing more than "political trickery."

At a one-and-a-half-hour meeting Sunday, former prime minister Netanyahu told Sharon that he agrees in principle to serve as foreign minister, but made his return conditional on, among other things, Sharon calling early elections.

"Almost all of then proposals raised by Benjamin Netanyahu require departure from the principles that Prime Minister Sharon set out for the continuation of a narrow government, and this the prime minister will find difficult to digest," Israel Radio reported.

It has been widely reported, apparently on the basis of leaks by the Netanyahu camp, that the former prime minister also demanded the ouster of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and opposition to a Palestinian state - the two points on which Netanyahu has attacked his party rival Sharon as soft on Palestinian militancy.

Although an official Sharon statement said that the prime minister was considering Netanyahu's conditions, which "include conditions in the diplomatic and political arenas," there were also harsh words for Netanyahu.

One aide said that the conditions were nothing more than "political trickery," adding that Netanyahu "is purporting to act in the Likud's name, but is actually promoting the demise of the Likud government, instead of helping to stabilize it."

"If we want to call early elections, we don't need Netanyahu," the sources added. "That - we can do by ourselves."

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Apparently the deal between Sharon and Netanyahu is not finalized and may not be. Though his coalition government is crumbling, Sharon does not like Bibi's terms.

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