Israeli Labor Party Members Vow to Block Unity Government

A group of senior members of Israel's Labor Party Thursday vowed to prevent the formation of a national unity government with Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon's Likud Party.

Outgoing Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, Immigrant Absorption Minister Yuli Tamir, Labor's Knesset (parliament) faction leader Ophir Pines-Paz and other lawmakers from the party met in Tel Aviv Thursday to discuss ways to keep the Labor from joining forces with the Likud, reports here said.

"I don't believe that the Labor will remain one party for very long if it decides to join the government," Beilin said after the meeting.

He added that many Labor Party members do not want to join a government which includes such far-rightists as Rehavam Ze'evi and Avigdor Lieberman from the political bloc of National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu who had threatened to bomb Egypt's Aswan Dam or transfer Palestinian Arabs from Israel.

Beilin criticized the members of the party's coalition negotiating team, saying that he never believed they would "sell the party in order to enter the government."

However, the dovish leader who is also an architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, said that he would not lead a party walkout over the unity issue if the Labor Central Committee decides to join the unity government.

"But it should be clear that the party is heading for a crash," he noted.

Ben-Ami shared a similar view, saying that in its efforts to enter a Sharon government, Labor "is heading for a fall from which I doubt it can recover."

The outgoing foreign minister accused those Labor members who support national unity "of cheap opportunism."

In an interview with the Army Radio, Ben-Ami said he believed that when it came to issues of peace and security, the Labor could always choose to support the government from the opposition benches.

"We have to see this battle as a basis for political renewal," he said, "We have to be able to present an alternative."

The group will hold a mass rally of Labor members on Sunday in a bid to persuade the party to remain in opposition.

At present, the majority of Labor members are in favor of closing ranks with the Likud. Outgoing Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said he believed it was vital for the Labor to be in the ruling coalition in order to "prevent a catastrophe" on the security front. "When Sharon's foot is on the gas," he said, "our foot will be on the brakes."

As Barak finally decided to take a break from politics, there has been a growing demand in the Labor for the treasury over the defense ministry.

Israel Radio reported that Sharon ordered his coalition negotiating team Thursday not to give up the finance ministry portfolio in talks with the Labor and is pressuring Minister of Regional Cooperation Shimon Peres to take the defense portfolio.

Sharon, the hawkish leader facing a much fragmented Knesset, is in dire need of the moderate Labor to forge a stable government.

Labor's Central Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday to vote on a proposed list of its politicians who could be ministers in the new Sharon-led government.






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