Knesset members from both the coalition and opposition decided Wednesday to hold a special Knesset meeting, during its recess, in order to discuss the government's decision to grant Holocaust survivors a monthly stipend of a mere NIS 83.

National Religious Party Chairman Zevulun Orlev said, "that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the government's humiliating decision. This is a disgrace and a belittlement."

Labor MK Collette Avital said the decision was a "macabre joke."

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The signatures of 25 MKs are needed in order to assemble a Knesset meeting during a recess. To hold a second meeting on the same day, an additional 25 signatures are needed. In each meeting, two of the MKs who initiated the meeting have the right to speak on the Knesset floor. In light of this, both right and left-wing parties are collecting signatures from MKs.

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked Holocaust survivors' groups to postpone a planned protest over the government's decision.

Olmert decided on Monday that the new stipend for Holocaust survivors would also be available to Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, thereby doubling the number of recipients of the NIS 120 million available for 2008.

The decision to grant the allowance to non-survivors reduced the amount each recipient receives to NIS 83 per month (approximately $20), less than half of the sum originally intended per person.

Prime Minister's Office officials called representatives from the survivors' groups, who were in the midst of an animated meeting on possible methods of objection, and asked that the protest be deferred until the cabinet brings the issue up for an additional discussion.

The survivors unanimously agreed to reject the prime minister's request. In addition, the survivors suggested drastic protest measures including asking major international Jewish organizations to sever ties with Israel's government in order to pressure the prime minister to provide appropriate aid to the survivors. They also suggested asking the German government to pressure Israel.

The chairman of a group representing Romanian survivors proposed that the money allotted to aiding Holocaust survivors in the 2008 budget be used to send treasury officials to visit the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz.

The chairman of the Holocaust Survivors' Welfare Fund Zeev Factor said "the prime minister has tightened the noose around the survivors' necks, these are our last breaths and we don't have any other choice."

As a preliminary step, it was decided to hold a traditional "March of the Living" which will include survivors and their families as well as anyone else who wants to attend. The march will begin at the Knesset building in Jerusalem and end with a demonstration at the prime minister's office.

A meeting is expected to take place Wednesday evening between representatives from the prime minister's office and Holocaust survivor groups in order to try and find a solution to the stipend problem. The meeting was arranged by Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog and director-general of the Welfare Ministry, Nahum Itzkovich.

Under the terms of the decision announced Monday, the government will allocate NIS 120 million for the allowances in 2008 and NIS 240 million in 2009, with the sum ultimately rising to more than NIS 300million in 2011, at which point the monthly payment will be NIS 520 per couple.