Associates: Ayalon waiting for offer from Barak to enter cabinet - Haaretz

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Sun., August 26, 2007 Elul 12, 5767

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Last update - 05:06 26/08/2007

Associates: Ayalon waiting for offer from Barak to enter cabinet

By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent

Associates of Labor MK Ami Ayalon said over the weekend he was waiting for a proposal from Defense Minister Ehud Barak that would allow him to join the cabinet.

Ayalon came in second to Barak in the Labor Party primary earlier this year.

His associates said Ayalon was willing to join the cabinet as a minister without portfolio if he had powers to deal with improvements on the home front proposed by the state comptroller after last year's Second Lebanon War.

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Barak's associates said he intended to invite Ayalon to join the cabinet soon, but granting widespread authority on the home front was a complex issue involving the defense minister, his deputy and the prime minister.

Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer has opposed Ayalon's membership in the cabinet as vice premier, a title now held by Barak. Barak's associates said Ayalon was never officially offered the post, and the idea was being discussed internally.

About a week ago, Ayalon met with Barak and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, who offered him a ministerial post without portfolio as well as membership in the security cabinet and Ministerial Committee for State Control. But Ayalon is reportedly seeking additional powers so he can implement the state comptroller's report on the home front.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak is said to want Ami Ayalon in the cabinet so the Knesset's winter session can open with the Labor party as a united faction, isolating former defense minister Amir Peretz and neutralizing internal opposition.

Ayalon said during the Labor election that he would not sit in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet, and called on Olmert to resign following the interim Winograd report.

Ayalon's associates said he always maintained that if Labor chose to stay in the government, he would accept the majority decision.

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1.	Go it, Ayalon ! We`re 100% behind you !	07:32	\|	Esther	26/08/07

2.	L e g a l i t y M o r a l s P u b l i c W e l f a r e -	17:04	\|	H.H.M	26/08/07

3.	L e g a l i t y M o r a l s P u b l i c W e l f a r e	17:05	\|	H.H.M	26/08/07

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