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Government tilts to the right with addition of new ministers
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[Article aimablement signalé par Samuel Jourdan, Correspondant Jérusalem)
Former Brig.-Gen. Effi Eitam was appointed chairman of the National Religious Party
and will become a minister without portfolio in the government.
and will become a minister without portfolio in the government.
The national unity government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon increased its Knesset majority as the National Religious Party and Gesher voted to join the coalition. The appointment of Yitzhak Levy, Effi Eitam, and David Levy as ministers without portfolio and members of the security political cabinet is set for Knesset approval on Monday.
With the addition of the new ministers, the government will have a total of 27 ministers. The National Union/Yisrael Beiteinu faction decided Sunday not to rejoin the government at this stage. Even so, the Labor Party threatened to bolt the coalition due to the cabinet's decisive right-wing tilt.
Most worrisome for Labor Party moderates was the
"We are going straight ahead"
- newly elected NRP Chairman Effi Eitam
addition of Eitam to the cabinet. Eitam, a former brigadier general who became religious after a secular kibbutz upbringing, has been condemned in the past for his hawkish remarks about Arabs and has been labeled a "false messiah" by opposition leader MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz).
Eitam sought to allay these fears in his first political speech at yesterday's National Religious Party (Mafdal) convention, which met to approve his appointment as chairman of the party, replacing Yitzhak Levy. "We are not going to the right and not going to the left," he said. "We are going straight ahead, continuing in the path of our fathers who began this great journey."
Eitam told his party colleagues that he views "the Jewish state not as a messianic idea, but as a day-to-day reality. We belong to a group of people who believe that Israel has a purpose, and can and should be a light to the nations." Eitam said he was opposed to "transfer" and extended an invitation to the Palestinians to live peacefully with Israel, but added that those who subscribe to terrorism would be fought to the bitter end.
The Gesher party also overwhelmingly approved joining the government. Former Foreign Minister David Levy said that he was putting aside personal differences with Sharon to support the government during the emergency situation. "On Seder night blood spilled like water, but still people ask, 'What's the point of the war?' The point of the war is to protect Israeli citizens from those seeking to take their souls," Levy said.
The National Union/Yisrael Beitenu party decided not to rejoin the coalition, from which it resigned last month. Avigdor Lieberman said his conditions for rejoining the government are the extradition of assassinated minister Rechavam Ze'evi's killers, the re-capture by the IDF of the Abu Sneineh neighborhood of Hebron, expansion of military operations to the Gaza Strip, and a decision regarding the future of the Palestinian Authority. According to media reports, Lieberman also demanded a guarantee from Sharon that he would be appointed Defense Minister if Labor left the coalition.
Labor discusses response to coalition expansion
Labor Party Knesset members were due to discuss Monday the recent political developments and to decide whether to vote in approval of the new government ministers. Despite calls by Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg and others, the party was not likely to vote to leave the coalition at this time.
Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres said that the party would not discuss leaving the government until the end of the IDF offensive in the West Bank. Channel Two television reported yesterday that party members Yossi Beilin, Burg, MK Efi Oshaya, and MK Colette Avital were scheduled to meet today with Peres to ask him to join their demand to leave the coalition, but the meeting was canceled when word of it was made public.
"Eitam's views touch on racism," Burg said, in a letter sent to party members. "Whoever sits in a government with racist views, gives them his approval, and can never speak out against them or contend with them." Oshaya called the newly expanded coalition "dangerous and destructive."
Pressure is being applied on party chairman Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to convene the central Labor committee to approve the decision to bolt the government. For now, Ben-Eliezer has no intention to leave, claiming that Labor can continue to serve in the government as long as the coalition does not veer from agreed guidelines. Ben-Eliezer's "red line" would be if political negotiations did not begin at the end of the IDF operations, Maariv reported.
Senior party members said that with the addition of the Mafdal, Gesher and the possible return of the National Union, the Labor Party would serve as nothing more than a "fig leaf" for the government and its military operations, Yediot Aharonot reported. "Because we will be the minority in the government and the cabinet, even if we hold the Defense and Foreign Affairs portfolios, it won't be long before we will need to do serious thinking and quit," the party members said.
Newly appointed ministers Eitam and David Levy called on Labor to remain in the government during this "time of crisis." Eitam called upon Labor Chairman Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to rise above "petty political considerations" and keep the national unity government intact. Communications Minister Reuvin Rivlin (Likud) said, "Labor would make a big mistake if it leaves the government in this time of struggle. Sharon wants to maintain the national unity government and we need everyone in the government, now more than ever."
Source : IsraelInsider
www.israelinsider.com/channels/politics/articles/pol_0126.htm