Prospects for a national-unity government are looking up once again, after the Labor party practically decided today to appoint Shimon Peres its temporary chairman. The future of such a government appeared to be in doubt last night, following the surprise reversal by Labor Party Secretary-General Ra\'anan Cohen, who said that the internal fighting within Labor does not allow for its entry into such a government. Ministers Yossi Beilin and Shlomo Ben-Ami continue to oppose joining a unity government, while Peres is strongly in favor. Minister Chaim Ramon, a central figure in the internal Labor party disputes of the past three weeks, now says he no longer opposes joining a unity government, but that he will not take part in it. Labor now demands that MK Benny Elon (National Union) not be named Chairman of the Knesset Law Committee. The Labor Central Committee will convene tomorrow to vote on the questions of joining the government and naming Peres the party head.
The initiative to name Peres was an initiative of Labor MK Effie Oshaya, who feels that the vacuum of leadership created by Barak\'s resignation is destructive to the party and must be filled. Oshaya\'s idea was based on the confidence that likely candidates for the party leadership such as Avraham Burg, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and Chaim Ramon would agree to this arrangement - on condition that Peres guarantee that he would not use his short stint as a springboard from which to launch a run for permanent party chairman. Meanwhile, tensions between Burg and Ramon have surfaced; the two are good friends who said in the past that they would never run against each other. Now, however, the promise appears to have been forgotten, and harsh words have been exchanged between their two camps.
The initiative to name Peres was an initiative of Labor MK Effie Oshaya, who feels that the vacuum of leadership created by Barak\'s resignation is destructive to the party and must be filled. Oshaya\'s idea was based on the confidence that likely candidates for the party leadership such as Avraham Burg, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and Chaim Ramon would agree to this arrangement - on condition that Peres guarantee that he would not use his short stint as a springboard from which to launch a run for permanent party chairman. Meanwhile, tensions between Burg and Ramon have surfaced; the two are good friends who said in the past that they would never run against each other. Now, however, the promise appears to have been forgotten, and harsh words have been exchanged between their two camps.