Last update - 00:00 28/10/2006
Meretz MK urges Labor central committee to okay exit from gov't
By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) called on the members of the Labor central committee on Saturday to vote in favor of resigning from the government in response to the addition of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu to the coalition.
In a letter addressed to the central committee, Gal-On wrote "Le Pen in France and Haider in Austria are political vegetarians compared with Lieberman," referring to extreme right wing politicians Joerg Haider and Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Gal-On added that the addition of Lieberman to the coalition poses "a threat to the future of the State of Israel as a democratic Jewish nation."
The "Labor Young Guard", a group of younger party members, announced on Saturday that they have collected the requisite amount of signatures needed to conduct a secret ballot vote on Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz's proposal to remain in the coalition despite the addition of the far right Yisrael Beiteinu.
Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who has expressed his support of remaining in the coalition, met with Arab-Israeli members of the Labor party on Saturday in an attempt to gain their support on the matter. At their meeting, Ben-Eliezer told them that leaving the coalition would be tantamount to political suicide, and that it would also harm the Arab sector because the Labor party is the only party within the coalition to advance the interests of Israel's Arab population.
On Friday, six Labor lawmakers presented the party's secretary-general, Eitan Cabel, with a draft proposal that would prevent Peretz from agreeing to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to include Yisrael Beiteinu in the coalition.
The proposal will be presented to the Labor Central Committee for approval at a meeting on Sunday.
The Knesset members, led by Minister of Culture and Sport Ophir Pines-Paz, state in their proposal that, "the Labor Party, headed by Amir Peretz, has promised its voters that it would not sit in a coalition which includes Avigdor Lieberman."
The MKs call on the central committee to stop Labor's Knesset faction from breaking this pledge.
Additionally, the MKs also urged the Central Committee to instruct party members and ministers to oppose the addition of Yisrael Beiteinu to the government.
The six MKs, including Danny Yatom, Shelly Yachimovich, Avishai Braverman, Nadia Hilu, Raleb Majadele and Yoram Marciano, demanded that a secret ballot on the matter be held by the central committee.
In addition to Pines-Paz, eight other Labor MKs are opposed to bringing Lieberman and his party into the coalition.
However, most central committee members are thought to be favor expanding the coalition by bringing in Lieberman.
But six Labor ministers, including Peretz, favor including Yisrael Beiteinu and are working to ensure a majority in the central committee.
On Wednesday, all Labor ministers except Pines-Paz backed the agreement between Peretz and Olmert that led the Labor leader to back down from his initial opposition to Lieberman's inclusion in the government.
Pines-Paz insisted that although there appears to be a majority on the central committee for the inclusion of Yisrael Beiteinu, most committee members understand the severe implications of participating in a coalition with a party whose views are so opposed to those of Labor.
Pines-Paz was unwilling to comment Thursday on whether he intended to resign if the central committee approved sitting in a coalition with Yisrael Beiteinu. He said that this is not a relevant question.
Arab central committee members are also busily trying to prevent Lieberman's inclusion in the government. However, National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who supports bringing in Yisrael Beiteinu, is trying to counter these efforts. He is planning a tour of Arab communities Saturday, which is also Id al-Fitr, the holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan.
Meanwhile, under the leadership of Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, a Labor Party committee met Thursday to discuss procedural matters relating to the party primary. One of the most important issues is when to hold the primary. Simhon said that he expected the vote to be postponed from the May 2007 date set in the party's constitution.
Party sources believe that the primary will be postponed because Ben-Eliezer, Peretz, Simhon and former Labor leader and prime minister Ehud Barak are all interested in such a delay.