Posted on 02/24/2003 7:14:28 AM PST by anotherview
Feb. 24, 2003
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef calls PM Sharon "Prime Minister of Garbage"
By GIL HOFFMAN
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef has called Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, "the prime minister of garbage" for leaving the Shas party out of the coalition.
The Likud signed coalition deals with Shinui and the National Religious Party on Sunday, giving Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the 61 MKs needed to form a coalition.
Talks began late last night with the seven-member National Union faction in an effort to widen the coalition. The faction was expected to be offered the Transportation and Immigrant Absorption portfolios. If Histadrut chief Amir Peretz's Am Ehad Party joins the coalition, it will reach 71 MKs.
Sharon ordered the coalition talks accelerated after it became clear that Labor would not be joining the government. The prime minister hopes to complete all coalition agreements by Tuesday and present his government to the Knesset for approval on Wednesday.
In an agreement initialed at 11 p.m. Sunday night, Shinui received the Justice, Interior, National Infrastructure, Environment, and Science portfolios.
The portfolios are expected to be given to the top five Shinui MKs, Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, Avraham Poraz, Yehudit Naot, Yossi Paritzky, and Eliezer Sandberg, pending approval by the Shinui council.
Shinui leader, Yosef (Tommy) Lapid will receive the Justice Ministry, Avraham Poraz, the Interior Ministry, Yossi Paritzky, the National Infrastructure Ministry, Eliezer Sandberg, the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport, Yehudit Naot, the Environment Ministry and Victor Brailovsky will be a deputy in the Ministry of the Interior.
Shinui MKs will also head two Knesset committees and Lapid will sit in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's security cabinet.
Shinui requested the Finance Ministry, but the Likud insisted on keeping the three top portfolios. Instead, the Likud broke its commitment to maintain control over the Interior and Justice portfolios.
Sharon promised that the Likud would keep the former in a meeting with the party's mayors. The latter was expected to remain within the party due to the many investigations involving Likud figures, including Sharon and his sons.
A deal with the NRP was reached earlier Sunday, shortly after 6 a.m., following a marathon nine-hour meeting. According to the agreement, the NRP will receive two cabinet seats.
NRP leader Effi Eitam will likely be appointed Construction and Housing minister, with MK Zevulun Orlev being appointed Social Affairs minister. The party will also receive a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Office, who will be in charge of implementing the dismantling of the Religious Affairs Ministry.
However, Orlev told Israel Radio that it would be up to the NRP central committee to decide who would be the party's ministers. Former NRP leader Yitzhak Levy announced that he would run for a ministerial position and would not accept the position of deputy minister.
The NRP said that a letter had been appended to the agreement, stating that they are opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state and that any such move must be brought before the cabinet for ratification. US President George W. Bush's road map will not be included in the new government's guidelines, but Sharon will mention the plan in his Knesset speech upon forming the government.
The NRP received assurances that religious education would remain independent and budget cuts for national service for religious women would be repealed.
The coalition guidelines will include an agreement reached between the NRP and Shinui which calls for the Tal Law that grants IDF service deferments to all yeshiva students to be canceled and replaced by a new arrangement. The Large Families Law, under which state support for families increases sharply from the fifth child, will be replaced by a law granting an equal allotment for each child.
The Religious Affairs Ministry, which has a budget of some NIS 1 billion, will be closed, as will religious councils. As for civil marriage, the two parties only agreed to search for a civil solution for couples who cannot be married by the Chief Rabbinate.
Shas and United Torah Judaism slammed Eitam for agreeing to join a government with Shinui, leaving them outside the government. They accused the NRP of harming the Jewish character of the state in return for seats in the government.
"This is a black day for Israeli democracy," Shas chairman Eli Yishai said. "This unholy covenant between the NRP and Shinui will be short-lived." UTJ MK Meir Porush accused Sharon of betraying Orthodox voters. He said he expects Sharon will soon betray right-wing voters as well by forming a Palestinian state.
Eitam responded that his party would act a bridge between religious and secular, creating a true national-unity government.
With intense support from the west to do so....Watch out!
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