There was widespread opposition to the latest round of cuts
announced by the Finance Ministry for next year's budget. The
Labor Party is threatening to vote against it, and one newly-
installed minister already resigned in protest.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who is also Labor
Party chairman, convened Labor ministers at the party's Tel
Aviv headquarters and decided unofficially to vote
unanimously against the NIS 8.7 billion in budget cuts called
for in Finance Minister Sylvan Shalom's proposal.
"We cannot tolerate cuts that will harm the weakest sectors,"
Ben-Eliezer said. "We will not let the budget pass cuts on
the backs of the weak, the unemployed, and the soldiers."
Ben-Eliezer's ally, Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh,
went further, saying the budget should be "thrown in the
trash" because it reflects "closed-mindedness, arrogance, and
a lack of understanding" on the part of Finance Ministry
officials.
Labor decided to create a unified front to fight for changes
in the budget, instead of allowing each minister to negotiate
separately with Shalom like last year. But Ben-Eliezer
stressed that he will not connect the budget issue to the
question of whether his party should remain in the
coalition.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak lashed out at the plan in a
speech to the Israel Center for Management. He said that
virtually every economic step taken since he left office has
been "regressive" and predicted that the country would not
recover until the security situation improves.
Minister without Portfolio and Gesher faction leader David
Levy tendered his resignation from the Israeli government
only three months after joining it, in protest over the newly
proposed 2003 state budget. In his letter of resignation,
Levy charged that "this government, the broadest in the
history of the state, is not capable of deciding its
policies, and its own members do not know its goals."
This is the third consecutive government that Levy has
resigned from. In July 2000 he stepped down as foreign
minister in protest over concessions then prime minister Ehud
Barak was preparing to make at the Camp David summit. In
January 1998, Levy resigned as Binyamin Netanyahu's foreign
minister also in protest over proposed budget cuts.
Although the departure of Levy and his three-seat Gesher
faction from the government poses no immediate danger to the
coalition, his resignation further complicates Sharon and
Shalom's effort to pass their proposed budget.
This week's cabinet vote is already likely to be delayed due
to widespread opposition by nearly every faction in the
Knesset, Likud and Labor officials said.
Shas is equally angry about the budget. Party chairman Eli
Yishai told reporters the proposal is a "witch-hunt of the
poor."
Yisrael Ba'aliya, the National Religious Party, Gesher, and
several Likud ministers also expressed opposition to the
plan, along with the opposition Meretz, Shinui, and
Democratic Choice factions.
Moledet chairman Benny Elon warned that Defense Ministry cuts
would put national security in jeopardy.
In diplomatic news, the US plans to meet with senior
Palestinian Authority officials in Washington next week to
try to finalize a plan for PA security reform.
"Last week I met with an Israeli delegation. This is part of
the process of moving forward to help the Palestinian
community transform itself," Secretary of State Colin Powell
told reporters in New Delhi during an Asian tour.
PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said the PA delegation would
include himself and the new Interior Minister Abdel Razek al-
Yahya, who supervises the PA security forces. The Bush
administration has been skeptical about Yahya's ability to
crack down on terrorism since his appointment, but has
decided it has no choice but to work with him. CIA officials
were reported to be in Ramallah early this week.
The US is concerned about Yahya's ability to institute any
changes without PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's approval. The US
has said it will no longer work directly with Arafat.
According to the Palestinian source, Erekat's meeting in
Washington with Powell was delayed until next week to enable
the administration to receive a progress report from the CIA
about the implementation on reforms in the PA security
services based on their meetings in Ramallah. The CIA's
intention is to oversee the merging of several security
services into one hierarchical organization subordinate to a
central command.
Jordan's King Abdullah, who is in the US for meetings with US
officials including President Bush, said it would be
"somewhat ludicrous" for the US to attempt to oust Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein without any progress on the Israeli-
Palestinian negotiating track.
Another Israeli concern is an expected research study
conducted by Johns Hopkins University on malnutrition among
Palestinian children.
Rejecting USAID, World Bank and IMF reports saying there is
malnutrition, Israeli sources are already referring to the
Johns Hopkins study as "biased," because the project leader
was a Palestinian doctor. The Israeli sources say that the
economic distress in the territories "has not reached
malnutrition and hunger, but there is humanitarian distress,
closures on the cities, and no work. That is accelerating the
moves toward a cease-fire."
Currently, Israel's main proposed political direction is to
undertake Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer's "pilot
project" whereby Israel will pull out of the southern West
Bank and Gaza areas it has held since the intifadah broke
out, if there is quiet and Palestinian security forces take
responsibility to prevent terror attacks. Simultaneously,
Israel will substantially ease economic conditions for those
areas.
