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Sharon to Submit Proposed Government to Parliament
Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon Tuesday completed the formation of a national unity government and submitted the coalition agreements to the Knesset (parliament) for approval.
Sharon will present his proposed government to the Knesset for approval Wednesday and is due to be sworn in with a cabinet of about 30 ministers after the Knesset endorsed his eight-party coalition.
Sharon, who has vowed to forge a national unity government after his electoral victory on February 6, has pieced together a coalition controlling more than 70 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
Besides his right-wing Likud Party, Sharon has invited into his coalition the center-left Labor Party, the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, Yisrael Ba'aliya (or the immigrants' party), One Nation faction, far-rightist factions of National Union and Yisrael Beitenu, as well as a one-man faction headed by Dalia Rabin- Pelossof, a Knesset member of the former Center Party.
Rabin-Pelossof, the daughter of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, signed a coalition agreement Tuesday and will be appointed deputy defense minister.
Likud has offered the Labor, the largest party, two of the three top portfolios. Senior statesman Shimon Peres will serve as foreign minister and outgoing Communications Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer as defense minister. The finance portfolio will be taken by Likud legislator Silvan Shalom.
The decision-making body of Shas, the Council of Torah Sages, Tuesday decided to appoint Shas Chairman Eli Yishai as interior minister and deputy prime minister, Shlomo Benizri as labor and welfare minister, Nissim Dahan as health minister, Asher Ohana as religious affairs minister, and Eli Suissa as Jerusalem affairs minister.
Sharon is required by law to finish forming the government and pass the national budget for the year 2001 by the end of March.
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