The Knesset House Committee will begin impeachment proceedings against President Moshe Katsav on Monday.

The panel had been scheduled Thursday to debate a petition signed by 30 lawmakers; however, it became clear that impeachment proceedings required very specific procedures and scheduling.

Meretz MKs Zahava Gal-On and Yoram Marciano, and Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich submitted a petition to start impeachment proceedings, signed by 30 of their peers, to Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik on Wednesday.

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The House Committee must hold a debate on the subject and allow a representative of the president to appear before the committee to make his case against impeachment.

Committee chair Ruhama Avraham and Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein had drafted impeachment procedures, but the document angered Gal-On, Yachimovich and Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar, because it allowed Katsav's lawyers two weeks to prepare for the hearing.

They are concerned that extended impeachment proceedings will lose momentum and not reach fruition. Alstein estimated the impeachment could take six weeks.

In the event there is a majority in the House Committee in favor of impeachment, the process moves to the legislature floor, where a 90-member majority must approve impeachment in an open ballot.

The president is also entitled to ask to speak before the Knesset to convince the body not to revoke his parliamentary immunity.