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To: LindyBill who wrote (90560)	12/14/2004 3:52:02 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793772

Likud, Labor talks break down Gil Hoffman, THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 14, 2004 Coalition talks between Likud and Labor broke down late Monday night when the Likud turned down Labor's demands on economic issues. Labor negotiators left the room in anger, saying that the party can remain in the opposition and support disengagement from there. "If they don't want us as partners in the government then they can humiliate us in the opposition," Labor negotiating team chair Dalia Itzik said. The Likud negotiating team said it could not accept Labor's budgetary demands because they were "outlandish and would have broken the framework of the 2005 state budget." Earlier in the day, Shas chairman Eli Yishai ruled out the possibility of his party supporting disengagement. Yishai said Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef cannot change his ruling on the basis of diplomatic progress that has not taken place yet. Labor negotiating team member Haim Ramon said Labor would not agree to the concessions on matters of religion and state that the Likud made to Shas and UTJ. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's associates said the Likud may have no choice but to form a coalition without Shas at first and then see whether the party can be added to the government after negotiations with the Palestinian Authority make the disengagement plan less unilateral. Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Yishai and Labor MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer on Monday to try to reach agreements on economic issues that would allow the parties to join the coalition. Sharon would like to reach an agreement with Labor by Wednesday in order to allow Labor's central committee to select the party's ministers on Thursday. Labor's law committee is to meet on Tuesday to decide how Labor's ministers will be chosen. Law committee chairman Amnon Lorch said there are three possibilities: allowing Peres to present a suggested list of ministers, holding individual races for each portfolio, and allowing central committee members to rank their favorite candidates, who will each then choose their portfolio. In a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, the Likud negotiating team decided with Sharon to offer Labor the following portfolios: Housing and Construction, National Infrastructure, Environment, Communications, Social Affairs, and Transportation, plus a vice-premiership for Peres, whose responsibilities will be decided in a meeting between Sharon and Peres. The portfolio list was never offered because of the breakdown in talks. Labor officials said they were disappointed that the list did not include Shinui's top portfolios, Justice and Interior. "At the very least, we deserve the portfolios that were given to Shinui and the NRP," one Labor official said. This article can also be read at jpost.com