Posted on 12/16/2004 12:34:59 PM PST by anotherview
Dec. 15, 2004 8:29 | Updated Dec. 16, 2004 21:26
Sharon suspends coalition talks
By GIL HOFFMAN
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and opposition leader Shimon Peres.
Photo: AP (File)
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to suspend coalition talks with Labor on Thursday night to protest comments by Labor negotiating team chair Dalia Itzik that insulted him.
In a speech to the Labor convention Itzik accused Sharon of running towards Labor and hinted that the reason why the prime minister does not want to give up the Justice Ministry in negotiations is connect to the ongoing criminal investigation against him.
Likud officials expect the talks to resume next week.
The Likud and Labor coalition negotiating teams were set to meet on Thursday night in an attempt to finalize a coalition agreement between the two parties. Sources in the Labor negotiating team expressed confidence that a deal will be reached at the meeting.
Itzik met with Likud team chair Yoram Raved for two hours at Tel Aviv's Dan Hotel on Thursday afternoon. Labor sources said that in the meeting she received a commitment for an eighth portfolio and a third deputy ministry.
In a speech to the Labor convention in Tel Aviv, Itzik said that Labor has been successful in the negotiations in obtaining the party's demands on economic and social issues.
"The Likud team tried to stick pins in us and it hasn't worked," Itzik said. "No one can humiliate this party. No one! We are not running. The Likud is running to us. We promised a disengagement government and we will get it. The groom is more powerful, but without the bride, there is no government, disengagement, and no budget."
Labor chairman Shimon Peres said that Labor would back the budget if it obtains its economic demands.
"Labor will join the government, despite the budget, to guarantee the nation's will to leave Gaza," Peres said. "Withdrawing from Gaza is not just a diplomatic-security move. It will also give a boost to the economy and begin economic prosperity like we had during Oslo."
Close associates of the prime minister, reiterating his ultimatum, warned Thursday morning however, "If there is no agreement reached within two days to form a national unity government, the prime minister intends to initiate the process towards early election."
Sharon called Peres on Wednesday and offered Labor the vice-premiership for Peres along with the Interior, Communications, Construction and Housing, Infrastructure, Absorption and Environment ministries. He rejected Labor's quest for control over the influential Israel Lands Authority and the Israel Broadcasting Authority, currently controlled by Vice Premier Ehud Olmert.
"Let's act like leaders, take responsibility and resolve this dispute," Sharon told Peres. "I dare you to explain to your voters why you initiated elections over the ILA and IBA. This is my final offer. Take it or leave it. Unity or elections."
Earlier Wednesday, Labor negotiating team chairwoman Dalia Itzik told Labor activists in Tel Aviv that she would not give in to any ultimatums.
"I have never been in negotiations with so many ultimatums," she said. "Sharon called me at 2:30 a.m. and offered [me] the Interior portfolio. But we still have not received a respectable offer that would allow us to join the coalition."
Raved said he spoke to Itzik many times and was disappointed that she did not accept any of his proposals or agree to meet with him.
"Apparently disengagement isn't what's important to them," he told The Jerusalem Post. "The way to resolve this dispute is for Labor to remember that the purpose of all the negotiations is to advance the disengagement plan."
Sharon's associates went further and said that the prime minister is ready to face elections. They said Sharon is confident that Netanyahu would not challenge him in the Likud and he will be reelected easily. "Labor is making a big mistake," a Sharon associate said. "If Labor wants to self-destruct by bringing about elections, we will not stand in their way."
Peres backed up his representatives, telling reporters that "under normal circumstances we would have gotten one of the top three ministries, so there is no need for the Likud to be stingy on the smaller portfolios."
Sharon received dozens of angry calls and faxes from Likud MKs and mayors protesting his decision to give up the Interior Ministry, which has tremendous power in defining the Jewish character of the state and in controlling budgets of local authorities. Even Sharon's son, MK Omri Sharon, protested the decision.
In an effort to keep the portfolio in Likud hands, Sharon's associates talked to Education Minister Limor Livnat about taking the Interior Ministry and giving her portfolio to Labor. One of Livnat's associates said, "Limor is interested in only one position. She has many reforms left to enact. She has the most important job in Israel today."
Sharon fiddles while Israel burns...
Funny. I don't see us burning. I also don't see how any Prime Minister could completely stop attacks from the Palestinians. The Prime Minister's policies (the fence, IDF action) have greatly reduced the number of Israelis who become victims of terror.
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