Coalition Talks Between Barak, Likud End Without Agreement

Talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and opposition Likud party leader Ariel Sharon on forming a national unity government ended Monday afternoon without an agreement, sources in Barak's office said.

The talks foundered because Sharon rejected Barak's coalition plan, the sources added, without revealing further details.

However, the two will hold another session Monday night and Barak now began his coalition talks with another right-wing party Shas.

The meeting began Monday afternoon as part of Barak's desperate efforts to shore up his shaky ruling coalition, which now only controls 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset (parliament).

Barak had met Sharon several times for an emergency government, which has become increasingly urgent amid the protracted Israeli-Palestinian bloody clashes.

The violence, which was triggered by Sharon's visit to a disputed shrine in the Old City of Jerusalem, had killed over 120 people, mostly Palestinians, and severely damaged the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

After announcing a controversial "timeout" from the peace process, Barak Sunday night ordered his negotiating team to step up talks with various parties, including Likud, Shas, and left-wing Meretz for the formation of an emergency government and demanded they finish the work by the end of the week.

The negotiating team, which was set up last week, groups Communications Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, Interior Minister Haim Ramon and Labor and Social Affairs Minister Ra'anan Cohen.

However, Israel's left-wing politicians had frowned on such a coalition plan, which they worried may lead to the death of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The Palestinian side had said that Sharon's entry into the government means "kiss of death" to the peace process.

Sharon set three conditions for joining the coalition. They are a different diplomatic process which is not based on the Camp David understandings; a security policy which will return quiet to the streets; and the establishment of a method for taking decisions.

Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, said Monday if Sharon is granted the right to veto all diplomatic or security-related decisions, he will resign from the government.

Beilin is also against Barak's decision to take a timeout from the peace process. He is to convene a meeting Monday evening of the left-wing Knesset (Parliament) members who share his stance on the timeout decision.

Within Likud, there also have been calls for early elections instead of extending a helping hand to rescue Barak from political danger.

Likud Knesset Member Limor Livnat has demanded an urgent meeting with Sharon before the general-turned-politician's talks with Barak.

After being rejected by Sharon, Livnat, who is a member of Sharon's negotiating team for emergency government talks, then requested such a meeting on Tuesday.

The Knesset will reconvene next week after a long summer recess. It was widely believed that if Barak failed to ensure a parliamentary majority before that, his coalition will surely be brought down by no-confidence votes in the first week of Knesset's winter session.



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