\"Israel is a Jewish, Zionist, democratic state.\" So states a proposed Knesset bill submitted jointly today by Shinui MK Tommy Lapid and NRP MK Nachum Langental. The two say that now is the right time for such a bill, \"as a response to those who are attempting to empty the State of its Jewish, Zionist, and democratic character and turn it into a \'state of all its citizens.\'\"



Prime Minister Ariel Sharon happily informed his Likud Knesset faction this morning, \"We have a budget.\" He based himself on a series of agreements that the Likud and Labor reached the last few days, paving the way for the approval of the budget. Sharon, as well as the entire Knesset, is well aware that if the budget is not passed by the end of this month, five days from now, new elections must be held. The Knesset today began its marathon session on the Arrangements Bill - an adjunct to the Budget Bill - while the budget itself will be debated and approved later tonight. Labor has agreed to the Blessed-With-Children Families Law, which grants additional benefits to families with many children, while the Likud has agreed not to freeze the Negev law but rather only to reduce it. For instance, only Negev residents who earn less than 15,000 shekels a month (the average salary last year was 7,054 shekels) will benefit from tax reductions. A law allowing a special grant to families with two physically handicapped children will not be canceled.



MK Benny Elon was chosen by his Knesset Law Committee peers today to be their representative on the Judicial Selection Committee, the body that nominates judges. The committee is composed of representatives of all three branches of government and the legal profession: the Minister of Justice, another cabinet minister, the Chief Justice and two other Supreme Court justices, two Knesset Members - one of whom must be the Chairman of the Knesset Law Committee (currently Ophir Pines of Labor), and two members of the Israel Bar Association. Benny Elon\'s father Menachem is a former Supreme Court justice.



The leaders of the government and the opposition met yesterday for their first briefing. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon updated Meretz MK Yossi Sarid on diplomatic and security issues. Sarid told Ha\'aretz that it was the first time the two had met privately since the mid-1970s when Sharon offered Sarid the number-two position on his newly-formed Shlomtzion Party. Sarid, who rejected the offer then, said about the meeting today that both leaders had been \"frank and open.\"