The initiative to prevent Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg from making his planned trip to Ramallah suffered a setback today. The Knesset House Committee voted that Likud MK Boim\'s proposal threatening to \"fire\" Burg if he makes the trip cannot be voted on for 45 days. Burg can now make the trip safe in the knowledge that his position is not threatened even if he makes the controversial trip.
In another Knesset committee, Arutz-7\'s Haggai Seri reports that Foreign Minister Peres presented the plan formulated by himself and Abu Ala to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee - but received only criticism from both right and left, and no support at all. Shinui Party leader MK Tommy Lapid said, \"The plan is very serious and worthy of consideration, but it\'s not realistic at all, and has absolutely no chance of being accepted in the present political situation. Even Don Quixote is more pragmatic than Peres.\" Meretz leader MK Yossi Sarid was slightly less gentle: \"It\'s just an attempt by a conjurer to pass an elephant through the eye of a needle, and meant only to justify his presence in the government.\" The Peres-Abu Ala plan calls for a PLO state on the territory currently controlled by the PA after ceasefire negotiations, the dismantling of terrorist organizations, the collection of illegal weapons, and a month of the Tenet outline. After the declaration of the state, unresolved issues are to be negotiated.
In another Knesset committee, Arutz-7\'s Haggai Seri reports that Foreign Minister Peres presented the plan formulated by himself and Abu Ala to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee - but received only criticism from both right and left, and no support at all. Shinui Party leader MK Tommy Lapid said, \"The plan is very serious and worthy of consideration, but it\'s not realistic at all, and has absolutely no chance of being accepted in the present political situation. Even Don Quixote is more pragmatic than Peres.\" Meretz leader MK Yossi Sarid was slightly less gentle: \"It\'s just an attempt by a conjurer to pass an elephant through the eye of a needle, and meant only to justify his presence in the government.\" The Peres-Abu Ala plan calls for a PLO state on the territory currently controlled by the PA after ceasefire negotiations, the dismantling of terrorist organizations, the collection of illegal weapons, and a month of the Tenet outline. After the declaration of the state, unresolved issues are to be negotiated.