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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LPS5 who wrote (12792)	12/4/2001 10:50:17 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Labor to decide today on coalition role By Gil Hoffman jpost.com JERUSALEM (December 5) - Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will convene the Labor ministers and then the party's Knesset faction in separate meetings at the Knesset this afternoon to decide whether to leave Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's national unity government. Sources close to Peres said he is angry at Sharon for allowing the government to designate the Palestinian Authority a "terror-supporting entity". "If Sharon continues to surrender to former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and adopt the policies of the extreme Right, Labor has no reason to remain in the government," he reportedly told confidants. As usual, Labor is divided over whether now is the time to leave, this time evenly split between its eight ministers and the rest of the MKs in the faction. MKs accused the ministers of caring more about their perks than the welfare of the people. "The government's decision obligates Labor to leave the government, since it has become clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bibi Netanyahu has more influence from the outside than Shimon Peres has from the inside," faction chairman Effi Oshaya said. "Labor voters must realize that this government received its mandate from the Right. Leaders cannot just whine and mope, they must make decisions even in difficult times. All the MKs are united in the opinion that we must leave, and tomorrow we will try to persuade the ministers." Knesset Law Committee chairman Ophir Pines-Paz went further, calling upon the ministers to do some serious soul-searching. He singled out Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh, who slammed Monday night's decision, but then took pains to justify remaining in the government. "There's a limit to how much masochism one party can stand," he said. "The unity government is dead. Sharon has showed us the door." The question of whether to leave also divided leadership candidates Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who will face off in a recount of disputed polling stations on December 26. Burg, who has wavered on the subject of unity, ran from camera to camera sharply criticizing the government, while Ben-Eliezer, who has a lot to lose if Labor leaves, was the coalition's strongest backer. "We have come to the watershed," Burg told IBA English News. "Labor must decide whether we intend to exercise the policies of the extreme Right or present a new political horizon." Asked whether his opinion was based on political considerations, he told Channel 1's 7:30 "not every opinion I have is popular, but this is right for the people of Israel and for the Labor Party." Ben-Eliezer said he doesn't see any reason to leave the government at a time when it is fighting to defend the country. "We shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water, because we have to think about the day after," he said. "The security of our citizens is above all. There are no outside considerations." Meretz and Hadash decided to submit no-confidence motions protesting the government's decision. Opposition leader Yossi Sarid said Labor has lost all its shame and its ministers acted like children. "Sharon came out of the closet yesterday and proved to be the wicked Sharon and not the Sharon of peace," Sarid said. "Labor will continue to shine Sharon's shoes because it has nowhere else to go." ***************************************** This may be a key story to watch over coming days. I heard one analysis about what may occur is Peres leaves the government coalition. There are rumours that Likud will ask Sharon to step down so Bibi Netayahu can step in. This is why I've been paying so much attention to Netayahu's frequent appearances in the US media. He's been laying the foundation for his return to the head of the Israeli government for months, if not years. And Sharon has no ability to generate sympathy from the American people, whereas Netanyahu knows how to push our buttons, and tailor his message in a way that we can relate to. And almost every Arab government fears Netanyahu above all other Israeli leaders since he's not much inclined to compromise, or negotiate from a position of weakness. Things could truly begin to get interesting. Hawk

To: LPS5 who wrote (12792)	12/4/2001 11:33:53 PM
From: bela_ghoulashi	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

I'm not mounting a defense of anything except looking at other people's beliefs without getting hysterical about them. Have you ever eaten in an Amish restaurant? Have you ever stayed in a Benedictine monastery? Have you ever visited an all black Baptist church in the rural south? Have you ever chanted "Hare Krisha" with a group of Kashmir Shaivites? Well, I have, and I can tell you they are all pretty "fundamental" and extreme in their own unique ways, but you'd be in more personal danger attending a little football game.