NRP quits gov't to protest pullout plan

The National Religious Party governing body voted Monday night to quit the coalition to protest the disengagement plan. Zevulun Orlev will resign from his position as labor and social affairs minister on Tuesday.

The party issued an ultimatum two weeks ago, on the day the Knesset passed the plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, saying it would leave the government if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not decide by Tuesday to hold a referendum on the pullout plan.

The NRP decided to quit after they were unable to reach an agreement with Sharon on a possible compromise solution. Sharon rejected all of the faction's three proposals: conducting a referendum on the pullout plan, holding elections and freezing disengagement proceedings for a month.

Sharon asked the NRP to delay leaving the government, saying there were "changes and developments" underway. He said the disengagement plan was not yet being implemented, adding that he understood the party would quit once the implementation began. The NRP has repeatedly said it will not sit in a government that is evacuating settlements.

On Sunday, Sharon's aides asked the NRP to remain part of the coalition until more was known about the condition of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, since his death would alter the situation in the entire region.

Orlev and the head of the NRP's Knesset faction, Nissan Slomiansky, said that if Sharon believed that Arafat's death would change things, he could put the disengagement plan on hold for a few months, giving him time to reevaluate the situation. Under such circumstances, they added, the NRP would remain in the coalition.

Also Monday night, the Knesset plenum voted 47-29, with 23 abstentions, to reject a no-confidence motion sponsored by Shas to protest. The motion was submitted in the wake of reports of child hunger.

Likud favors basic law on referendumMembers of the Likud Knesset faction voted overwhelmingly Monday in favor of drafting a basic law to deal with a referendum on the disengagement plan, and issued a unanimous call for Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rethink his threat to quit the government if no referendum is held.

The vote came a day after the publication of findings by a Likud committee headed by MK Michael Eitan, which was charged with examining the issue of a national referendum. The panel recommended Sunday that the party draft a basic law on holding such a poll.

Of the 22 Likud MKs, 20 voted in favor of the motion Monday, while David Levy voted against. There was one abstention by former deputy minister Michael Ratzon - fired by Sharon for his opposition to the disengagement plan in a recent Knesset vote.

The disengagement plan calls for the evacuation by Israel of the entire Gaza Strip and the removal of four settlements in the northern West Bank.

In the faction meeting ahead of the vote, the prime minister told lawmakers that while he is against a nationwide referendum on his plan, he would not block the proposal of a bill on the issue in the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

The faction decision will have little practical value, however, as there is a clear majority of Knesset members who oppose such a poll.

Eitan's 20-page report also states that the prime minister would have to be in favor of such a law for it to gain a majority in the Knesset and be enacted. The panel found that the law could be passed within a month of being presented to the Knesset for its first reading.

Eitan's committee presented its findings Sunday, a day before an ultimatum issued by Netanyahu regarding his resignation expires. Likud officials believe that the report's recommendations would give Netanyahu an excuse to lift his threat to resign.

The report warns that there is much opposition in the Knesset against passing a basic law on a referendum. Thus, the authors write, in order for such an important bill to become law, it will have to have the full backing of the prime minister himself. "Without his active support there is no chance of securing a majority for the referendum," they state.

The finance minister, who had maintained his silence about the vote, held several political meetings Sunday and met with aides, giving the impression that he was still in a quandary regarding his course of action once the faction makes a decision.

Panel head Eitan said that a referendum may help Sharon implement his disengagement plan, and maintain his coalition and the unity of the Likud party. "We took Netanyahu's ultimatum into account, and the timing of the report is not coincidental," he said. "I expect it will make it easier for him to remain inside."

Sharon has been attempting in recent days to ensure that Netanyahu and the National Religious Party remain in the coalition. Sharon was due to meet Netanyahu late Sunday to discuss the 2005 state budget.

The Eitan panel was created two weeks ago, and Sharon gave his approval for it to work and to postpone a vote on a referendum for a few weeks. The committee's mandate was to investigate all the relevant legal and political aspects of holding a referendum, and to present the results to the Likud faction. The panel met with experts from academia as well as representatives of nearly all the Knesset factions to gauge the chances of passing such a bill with a majority of more than 61 MKs.

Currently there are 66 MKs who oppose a referendum: Labor (21), Shinui (15), Shas (11), Yahad (6), United Torah Judaism (5) and the Arab parties (8).

The report acknowledges that "the current tally shows that there is broad opposition to legislating a referendum law. The opposition is linked not only to the referendum per se, but to larger coalition politics, and other alternatives such as holding early elections." Therefore, the report goes on, under certain conditions, members of the ultra-Orthodox parties or Shinui could change their minds.

MK Yossi Beilin, chairman of the Yahad-Meretz party, blasted the Eitan committee's recommendations, and said that the Likud was sacrificing parliamentary democracy so as to provide Netanyahu "a ladder" that he can use to climb down from his threats, and that the report proves that the Likud continues to subordinate national interests to its narrow factional interests.

	From left: Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attending Monday's Likud faction meeting in Jerusalem. (AP)