Olmert: We'll have to concede senior portfolios
Despite Amir Peretz's recent declarations, maneuvers, Kadima in no rush to form right-wing government without Labor Party; in light of Kadima's wish to make diplomatic progress, party members agree 'Labor must be inside'
Olmert told his party members that the working premise, once the coalition negotiations begin, will be that if Labor joins the government Kadima will concede one of the main portfolios – the Treasury or the Defense Ministry. Kadima members, however, continued to say that they will try and keep the Treasury.
Another decision made in the meeting was that the details of Olmert's speech on the night of the elections will serve as the next government's fundamentals and that all parties wishing to join the coalition will be asked to sign these basic principles.
Regarding the composition of the next government, Olmert presented the attendees with three possible options: The first one with both Labor Party and Israel Our Home, the second one without Labor, and the third one without Israel Our Home. In the meantime, there are still difference of opinion between Kadima's senior members regarding the government's desired composition.
Some of the officials recommended that Olmert form a government with Labor, Shas, United Torah Judaism, the Pensioners party, and perhaps Meretz. Others recommended to try and bring Israel Our Home into the government, along with Labor.
A senior member who attended the meeting told Ynet: "Most of the members want a coalition with the Labor Party, as well as with Israel Our Home, if it agrees to Olmert's speech. If (Israel Our Home Chairman Avigdor) Lieberman agrees to the speech's details, it will be okay. But in the meantime, it is not really certain that he will agree. In any event, Labor should be in."
The possibility of Labor not being part of the government was also raised as an option, but not because of Peretz's attempts in the past few days to form a right-wing government, but rather due to practical considerations.
"If Lieberman accepts the government's basic principles on the political issues, and Labor decide to reject him in any event – there will be a problem," a senior Kadima member who took part in the meeting said.
Israel Our Home: We won't agree to further withdrawals
On Monday, Olmert also met with Avigdor Lieberman, but it seems that the two officials did not reach any real progress in the meeting.
Senior Israel Our Home members held a consultation meeting in Jerusalem Monday evening, in which they decided that the party will not agree to any further withdrawals without international recognition of the territories under Israeli rule, such as the Golan Heights and settlement blocs.
"From our point of view, there is no convergence and no withdrawal without an international recognition of the settlement blocs, in the Golan Heights and the Jordan Rift Valley," a senior party member said.
"If the Palestinians form a government or an authority which can be negotiated with, we will talk to them about border adjustments on a demographic basis. We do not support further withdrawals," he added.
According to a senior party official, "it depends what Olmert is planning to do. We are also interested in solving the couple registration problem. We will be happy to be part of a coalition with a pragmatic approach, which deals with social issues, but at the same time creating further motivation for people to work and generating growth."
Knesset Member Yuri Shtern said: "We are ready for every possibility. We definitely have an interest in being in the coalition, but if we are to be a marginal part of the coalition – then it is better to be in the opposition."
"We have to wait and see how things develop. The coalition Olmert is forming now is a destructive coalition in terms of the economy that will erase all achievements. We have no interest in such a coalition, and we will not deceive and be part of it," he said.
Labor: We tend to say 'no' to Lieberman
The Labor Party, however, which still refuses to set up an early meeting between Chairman Amir Peretz and Ehud Olmert, presented a surprising approach regarding Lieberman.
"Instinctively, we tend to say 'no' to Israel Our Home in any event, even if they accept Olmert's political principles," a senior Labor officials told Ynet.
"I don’t know what we will do at the moment of truth if Lieberman accepts Olmert's basic principles. It is impossible to know what will happen in the negotiations at the moment of truth," the official added.
Kadima expects 'long and exhausting' negotiations
In the meantime, Kadima is preparing to launch the official negotiations with the parties within a number of days.
"It seems that things are starting to get into place," a senior Kadima official said, estimating that the coalition negotiations are expected to be "long and exhausting."
"After the president makes his recommendation, there will be initial talks and then the negotiations will begin. They will be complicated due to the political situation created. We have a relatively small number of Knesset seats, and it will make the negotiations long and difficult," he added.
The official went on to say that "a failure of the negotiations is not something that anyone wants, and elections are an extreme and very bad scenario. But theoretically, anything could happen. Is it realistic? I don’t think so. The difficult issues will eventually be solved at the last moment. Whoever takes part in the negotiations comes with unattainable economic demands. We cannot add NIS 20 billion (about USD 4.2 billion) to the 2006 budget now. It just can't happen."
Minister Ronnie Bar-On told Ynet: "I sincerely hope that after the street fights we witnessed in the past few days, peace will return and we will enter a negotiations model."
"The election results are clear. We do not reject any party and do not reject any person for any role. It is all subject to negotiations, of course under the condition that those who wish to join the government will accept Kadima's basic principles," he said.
Bar-On went on to say: "I don’t want to commentate on what the parties should do in order to be in the government. The fundamentals are very clear. They were also presented in our platform, as well as in interviews Ehud Olmert gave before the elections and in the speech he delivered on the night of the elections after the results were published."
"I don’t know any party, apart from perhaps the National Union-National Religious Party, that cannot converge around these basic principles. We will demand that our partners sign these basic principles because we plan on implementing them," the minister added.
Ilan Marciano contributed to the report
