Olmert may seek to appoint outsider as justice minister

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering giving the justice portfolio to a senior jurist unconnected to politics.

Interior Minister Roni Bar-On, an Olmert crony, has also been tipped for the position.

Aides to Olmert say he does not plan to bring Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit back to the Justice Ministry.

Appointing a non-politico would signal that Olmert seeks to stabilize the relationship between the justice system and the government in the wake of last week's conviction of former justice minister MK Haim Ramon, which marked a nadir in relations between the two establishments.

Consultations over filling the justice, welfare and culture portfolios, as well as finding a new Knesset Finance Committee chair, are set to resume on Sunday. This will not be the major reshuffle Olmert had hoped for (which may have included replacing the defense minister). Cabinet Secretary Israel Maimon and deputy chief of staff in the Prime Minister's Office, Oved Yehezkel, will represent Olmert in the talks with coalition members. They hope to fill all the empty positions by the end of the week.

One task on the agenda is a final effort to determine whether United Torah Judaism is willing to compromise on its monetary demands for taking on the welfare portfolio, which Olmert has retained since creating his coalition last year. If UTJ cannot be budged, it will remain in the opposition, and the welfare post will be opened up to Labor, Yisrael Beiteinu and Kadima.

Olmert's aides have made it clear that if welfare goes to Labor, the party will have to give up one of its current portfolios, other than the culture, science and sport post. It is considered unlikely that any Labor minister will agree to trade his or her current job for the welfare portfolio, which means the party will relinquish a portfolio central to its original agenda. In that case, Yisrael Beiteinu would be most likely to get the position.

	Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit inaugurating an expansion plan at Kibbutz Misgav Am on the northern border on January 9. (Sasson Tiram)