Peres resigns from Knesset
Associates deny move is linked to attorney general's ruling that Peres cannot be minister in current government
According to Peres' associates, there
is no link between his resignation and the opinion of Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who said Peres could not be appointed a minister in the current interim government.
At 4:45 p.m., Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin received a fax announcing Peres’ plan to resign.
“I am bringing to your attention my decision to resign from the current Knesset and from my position as Knesset member in the 16th Knesset. I am returning my seat to the Labor party and its faction in the Knesset,” the fax said.
Later the two spoke by telephone.
Peres has been a member of Knesset since the fourth Knesset, to which he was elected in 1959. Before that, he served as a director general of the Defense Ministry.
Mazuz rules on ministerial appointments
Mazuz ruled Sunday that Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could not appoint Shimon Peres, Dalia Itzik, and Haim Ramon as ministers, as Olmert has originally planned.
Olmert had planned on appointing the three
as ministers together with three Knesset members from Kadima in order to replace Likud ministers who had resigned.
Mazuz said the Knesset members could be appointed to ministerial positions only after elections.
The attorney general based his decision on clause six of the Founding Government Act, which rules that Knesset members who have resigned from their faction cannot be appointed to government while the Knesset from which they resigned is still in session.
Ilan Marciano contributed to this report
