Israeli Government Crumbles After Labor's Walkout

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 31, 2002

Israeli Government Crumbles After Labor's Walkout

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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's delicately balanced coalition government crumbled Wednesday night after Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and other Labor ministers tendered their resignations.

Ben Eliezer, chairman of the labor party, resigned after a last-ditch meeting in the Knesset (parliament) with Sharon in a bid to finalize a compromise to stave off Labor's outspoken walkout from the government.

After the three-hour meeting that ended in a shouting match, BenEliezer explained why he decided to vote against the budget.

"We have received many promises, but nothing concrete, therefore I recommended that Labor vote against the budget," he said, adding that "Likud refused to budge, they wanted us to back the budget without any changes."

"We have been quiet until now because we preferred unity, but now there is no choice but to take from settlements," Ben Eliezer said, referring to his faction's demand to give money allocated for settlements to the poor, the elderly and other needy Israelis.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, a key Labor member and supporter of the coalition government, resigned alongside four other Labor ministers after Ben Eliezer quit the 18-month coalition government.

Asked how he felt about the resignation, Peres said: "I feel like I'm in a crisis."

Addressing the Knesset (parliament) after the breakup, Sharon slammed the Labor party for resigning from the government over disagreements on the 2003 state budget.

"In this fateful hour the Israeli economy is under scrutiny by the world and all of us in the coalition and the opposition must vote for the budget," he said, vowing to continue to "lead the state responsibly" despite the crisis.

A few hours later, the Knesset passed at its first reading the 2003 state budget, which had been at the center of negotiations between Labor and Likud to save the national unity government.

The Knesset voted 67 against 45, with two abstentions, in favor of the controversial budget, which is yet to come through two more readings pending a final approval -- a process that is likely to create more coalition tensions in coming weeks.

Earlier in the day, it appeared that a compromise had been worked out over Labor's demand that funding to settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to the tune of 145 million US dollars, be reallocated to the weaker sectors of the society.

Wednesday's voting was postponed several times as a result of behind-the-scenes wrangling over a compromise to defuse the crisis.

Government Secretary Gidon Sa'ar charged Labor with unwilling to relent on any of its demands, with the implicit aim of tearing the national unity government apart.

"Sharon made every effort to preserve the government...sadly, Ben Eliezer had arrived with a ready letter of resignation," he said in a television interview.

Labor member Haim Ramon, a contender for the party's chairmanship, said he is glad Labor will be no longer in a government whose social and economic policies are wrong.

"I have been saying for a few months now that (Labor) should withdraw from the government," he said.

Labor's departure from the government is the most serious political challenge to the coalition since Sharon came to power early last year.

Although the breakup of the coalition government may not topple Sharon immediately, it will force him to rely on the far-right, or ultimately call early elections.

Senior Likud officials say Sharon may have no choice but to call elections within 90 days -- nine months earlier than scheduled.

Israel's coalition governments are chronically unstable and plagued by internal fighting. No government has ever completed its tenure since the 1980s, with the past seven years seeing five prime ministers off the post amid political crisis.

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