Hi all; Debka commentary on Israeli political situation, LOL:
Sharon’s Minority Government Will Survive Labor’s Walkout
DEBKAfile Political Analysis
Debka, October 30, 2002
Ariel Sharon shows no sign of knuckling under to the demand from his resigned defense minister, the Labor leader Binyamin Ben Eliezer, for an early election next March or April. Labor’s walkout from the unity government leaves Sharon with a minority government of 55 out of 120 Knesset seats instead of the handy 80 his unity government enjoyed for one year, ten months. But he has prospects. The prime minister achieved his first victory one hour after his government was whittled down when he rallied a majority of 67 Knesset members for the passage of the 2003 State Budget against 45 nay voters led by Labor and 2 abstentions.
Winning over the Mahane Leumi-Israel Beitenu and other hawkish factions to take his government past the 61 barrier will be his next order of business.
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debka.com
Israel Plunges into Campaign for January election
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
Debka, November 5, 2002
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon announced Tuesday, November 5, he had opted for an early election reluctantly as the lesser evil, rather than bow to “political extortion”. Later, a parliamentary committee set January 28, 2003 as voting day.
This decision touched off a whirlwind of political action before Tuesday afternoon. In a broadcast news conference mobbed by the media, he denounced Labor’s walkout from the unity government last week - which left him with a minority government based on 55 out of 120 seats - as “politically capricious and irresponsible”. He also rejected as unacceptable the conditions laid down by the right-wing National Union (7 seats) leader Avigdor Lieberman to his subsequent overtures. Those terms included binding exceptions to a unity government with Labor - now or in a post-election lineup - and to a Palestinian state, as well as an early election.
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debka.com
-- Carl |
