The crisis between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Finance Minister Silvan Shalom regarding the 2002 national budget took a time-out yesterday, after Shalom withdrew his threat to resign. The two met yesterday to settle their differences, but did not resolve all outstanding issues. Their joint desire to cut over six billion shekels from the 250 billion shekel budget has led to sharp criticism from most government ministers, and Shalom is said to feel that the Prime Minister is not giving him the necessary backing.
The Cabinet will meet on Monday to vote on the cuts, with a severe government crisis in the offing. Shas and United Torah Judaism threaten to quit the coalition if the law to increase child allowance payments for large families is frozen, while Labor said it would vote to do exactly that. The Negev-benefits law is also on the chopping block, as are the budgets of all government ministries. Several government ministers, including Education Minister Limor Livnat, have threatened to resign if their budgets are cut.
A Likud MK quoted in the Jerusalem Post said that Finance Minister Shalom had made a basic mistake by basing his original budget proposals on overly optimistic growth rates - which he and his aides did not revise even after the Sep. 11 attacks and ensuing global economic problems; he was then forced to make adjustments that exposed him to coalition pressures.
In related economic news, Israel\'s disabled community anxiously awaits the results of Monday\'s meeting. Dozens of wheelchair-bound people protested yesterday for the fourth consecutive day outside the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry. They previously struck two years ago, at which time they won their demand for 12,000 \"severely disabled\" people to become eligible for both a personal-care allowance and a mobility allowance. They now insist that their monthly allocation of only 1,740 shekels be increased to the minimum wage of 3,200 shekels. A spokesman said that 130,000 of Israel\'s 144,000 civilian disabled people live solely off this monthly allotment.
Another hard-hit area is that of social services. The Social Workers Union says that they can no longer offer services to those who need their help, and ask the public not to turn to them. The national government has stopped paying for vital social services, according to Local Authorities Union Chairman Adi Eldar, and the local authorities do not have the resources to pick up the slack. Eldar warned that the planned budget cuts would bring on further devastation in areas such as homes for retarded adults, transportation for the handicapped, treatment for alcoholics, and families with domestic violence.
Meanwhile, the dollar has climbed by some 12 agorot in the past two days, and now stands at 4.323 shekels. The steep jump is attributed to the expected announcement of a 2% drop in interest rates on Sunday.
The Cabinet will meet on Monday to vote on the cuts, with a severe government crisis in the offing. Shas and United Torah Judaism threaten to quit the coalition if the law to increase child allowance payments for large families is frozen, while Labor said it would vote to do exactly that. The Negev-benefits law is also on the chopping block, as are the budgets of all government ministries. Several government ministers, including Education Minister Limor Livnat, have threatened to resign if their budgets are cut.
A Likud MK quoted in the Jerusalem Post said that Finance Minister Shalom had made a basic mistake by basing his original budget proposals on overly optimistic growth rates - which he and his aides did not revise even after the Sep. 11 attacks and ensuing global economic problems; he was then forced to make adjustments that exposed him to coalition pressures.
In related economic news, Israel\'s disabled community anxiously awaits the results of Monday\'s meeting. Dozens of wheelchair-bound people protested yesterday for the fourth consecutive day outside the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry. They previously struck two years ago, at which time they won their demand for 12,000 \"severely disabled\" people to become eligible for both a personal-care allowance and a mobility allowance. They now insist that their monthly allocation of only 1,740 shekels be increased to the minimum wage of 3,200 shekels. A spokesman said that 130,000 of Israel\'s 144,000 civilian disabled people live solely off this monthly allotment.
Another hard-hit area is that of social services. The Social Workers Union says that they can no longer offer services to those who need their help, and ask the public not to turn to them. The national government has stopped paying for vital social services, according to Local Authorities Union Chairman Adi Eldar, and the local authorities do not have the resources to pick up the slack. Eldar warned that the planned budget cuts would bring on further devastation in areas such as homes for retarded adults, transportation for the handicapped, treatment for alcoholics, and families with domestic violence.
Meanwhile, the dollar has climbed by some 12 agorot in the past two days, and now stands at 4.323 shekels. The steep jump is attributed to the expected announcement of a 2% drop in interest rates on Sunday.