A mini-rebellion against Prime Minister Sharon took place today within the Likud and the coalition parties, but peace has apparently been restored. The Knesset Finance Committee broke up this morning when the proposal to approve a 745-million shekel expenditure for the partition wall was raised. MKs of the Likud and right-wing party refused to vote in favor, expressing the concern that the wall might be built along the Green Line. They fear that the wall - a concrete wall several meters high designed to make it harder for terrorists to enter pre-1967 Israel - will separate Yesha from the rest of the country. Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz assured the Likud MKs yesterday that the wall would be built to the east of Ariel, a Jewish city in central Shomron.
Opposition MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) said that the unrest in the Likud party is the harbinger of the first cracks in the coalition.
The committee re-convened late this afternoon and heard explanations from Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu himself in favor of the allocation. The vote will take place on Thursday morning. The total cost of the partition fence: five billion shekels.
The committee is also expected to pass a 22-million shekel allocation for the Settlement Division. This body operates on both sides of the Green Line, though the added funds will be used for communities in the Southern Hevron Hills, Gush Katif, the Golan, and the Jordan Valley.