Shinui party and opposition leader Yosef (Tommy) Lapid told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon his party will not vote in favor of the state budget proposal.
“We would not be able to vote for the same budget proposal that brought about our departure from the coalition,” Lapid told Sharon in a meeting they held at Sharon’s ranch Saturday.
| West Bank security barrier (Photo: AP) |
Sharon told Lapid he requires Shinui’s support on the budget so the government would be able to carry out the Gaza disengagement plan; less than a month-and-a-half remain until the vote on the state budget, and if it fails to pass, the cabinet would have to be dispersed.
During the meeting, Lapid demanded that Sharon establish a Likud-Labor-Shinui government.
“Such a government would be able to pass the budget, secure the disengagement, and free the government from the renewed political extortion of the ultra-orthodox parties,” he said.
Sharon said while he cannot commit to anything at this juncture, he understands Shinui’s difficulties regarding the budget.
Labor expected to support new security fence route
Knesset Member Yosef Paritzky said Lapid is “zigzagging.”
“In August he agreed to a government with United Torah Judaism, then he quit the government, and now he wants to return to it,” he said. “Once, people thought of naming a sausage after him; today, I doubt they would name toilet paper after him.”
Knesset members from the rebel ranks of the Likud party are planning to vote against the budget in a last ditch effort to halt the Gaza disengagement plan.
Shas has said unequivocally that it plans to vote against the budget.
The prime minister’s last hope, therefore, remains in the hands of Shinui.
Earlier, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he plans to vote against the disengagement plan in Sunday’s cabinet vote, but the plan is expected to pass nonetheless.
The government is also expected to discuss the proposal to reroute the West Bank security fence.
Labor party cabinet ministers decided Thursday to vote in favor of the proposal.
Minister Haim Ramon said the new route “is much closer to our views and positions, because the fence annexes only 6-7 percent of the West Bank areas.”
Yachad Party Chairman Yossi Beilin
called on Labor party ministers to oppose the continued construction of what he referred to as an “annexing fence.”
“During a period when we are attempting to open a new page with the Palestinian Authority, it would be a big mistake to construct a fence along this route, and the Labor’s support would prove how much of the party’s identity is diminishing as it sits in a government with Sharon.”
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