By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Dec 14, 2004
Labor Party officials stormed angrily out of coalition talks with their Likud counterparts Monday night, threatening to derail Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s efforts to establish a government dedicated to cleansing Gaza of its Jews.
While Labor firmly supports Sharon’s “disengagement” plan, the leftist Knesset faction opposes the capitalist economic reforms of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Sharon aides played down the rift, expressing confidence that the common goal of retreating from Gaza and northern Samaria would result in a coalition agreement within days.
Meanwhile, the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which opposes the disengagement plan, has tentatively agreed to join the coalition if its own budget demands are met and it is allowed to vote against unilateral withdrawal from within the government.
Labor insists it will not sit in a government that includes parties opposed to retreat.
Without Shas or Labor, Sharon sits at the head of a fragile 40-seat minority government.
Intractable demands
Likud and Labor negotiating teams held their first serious coalition talks Monday night after their respective central committees approved efforts to form a national unity government over the past week.
Sharon is keen to forge an alliance with Labor in order to shore up his shaky minority coalition, which at present includes only the prime minister’s Likud Party.
But Labor, the second largest faction in the Knesset, remains staunchly opposed to Netanyahu’s economic plan.
Sharon very publicly endorsed Netanyahu’s planned economic reforms in return for failing to honor his commitment to offer Netanyahu the Foreign Ministry following Sharon’s electoral victory in 2003.
In keeping with that position, Likud negotiators fully rejected Labor’s insistence that a number of the planned budget cuts be cancelled, and the nation revert to the socialist system that many analysts agree resulted in the current economic crisis.
At that point, chief Labor negotiator Dalia Itzik stormed out of the room, telling her Likud counterparts to “call when they are serious,” Ma’ariv reported.
Joint quest for retreat
Despite their stark differences over how to guide Israel’s economy, Sharon’s Likud and the “land-for-peace” Labor Party are joined in their determination to see the Jewish community of Gaza uprooted.
Sharon aides believe that common goal will result in speedy and successful negotiations, the two parties’ differences notwithstanding.
Labor officials were less optimistic, but said even if the government failed to meet their budget demands the party would still support retreat from the opposition.
Shas sees green
Shas, meanwhile, was eager to enter the government and make its own changes to the budget, but was unsure if Sharon would permit its joining due to the party’s opposition to his retreat plan.
Talks between Shas and Likud broke down Monday when Shas chairman Eli Yishai insisted he had no authority to alter party spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef’s ruling to vote against Sharon’s planned Gaza withdrawal.
Yishai requested Shas be allowed to sit in the government, but still vote against retreat.
The talks ended without the two sides scheduling another meeting.
Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz said his party “will not sit in a government with parties that oppose disengagement. If this government will not be a 'disengagement government,' there is no reason to exist and it is preferable to go to elections.”