Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Sunday he is not opposed to Yisrael Beiteinu joining the government, so long as the coalition government's guidelines do not change.

Peres made the comments at a meeting of Kadima ministers.

Both Peres and Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz denied Sunday reports the two had formed a joint front to block Avigdor Lieberman's party from joining the coalition.

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The two have virtually not spoken to each other since Peres quit the Labor Party after losing the leadership primary to Peretz. Reports had surfaced the two would meet in the coming days to discuss joining forces against Avigdor Lieberman's party.

Health Minister Yaacov Ben Izri of the Pensioners' Party said Sunday he opposes Yisrael Beiteinu joining the government, saying it would deadlock the goverment.

Ben Izri said he fails to understand how while a few weeks ago Lieberman called for immediate action to force the government to resign, he now views joining the coalition as legitimate.

The Pensioners' Party faction is to meet Monday to formulate its position on the addition of Yisrael Beiteinu to the government as well as the proposed changes to Israel's system of government.

Lieberman has conditioned his party's entry on passage of the bill to change the system of government in preliminary reading. The bill was approved by a five to four majority by the ministerial committee on legislation.

Labor, however, plans to try to defeat the bill in the Knesset, and thereby torpedo Lieberman's entry into the coalition. Both Labor faction chair MK Ephraim Sneh and Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich began lobbying fellow Knesset members on this issue over the weekend.

Although most Labor MKs oppose Lieberman's entry into the coalition, the matter will not be brought to a vote at Sunday night's Labor faction meeting. Instead, should a Yisrael Beiteinu-Kadima deal appear imminent, Labor's Central Committee will be convened to decide on the party's response.

However, Peretz and other Labor officials plan to appeal to party MKs at Sunday's meeting to obey coalition discipline in order to deprive Olmert of an excuse for bringing Lieberman into the government. Olmert claims that the unreliability of several Labor MKs in critical votes has made expanding the coalition imperative.