Ex-Labor Party MK Effie Hoshaya said that if Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz clears Ariel Sharon of the criminal charges pending against him regarding the Greek Island affair, "it's inevitable that Labor will enter the coalition a few days afterwards. Both parties need each other..." Mazuz's decision is expected next week; there have been contrasting intimations over what his decision will be.
Hoshaya said that he personally is not in favor of his party joining the government, however:
"Labor can support the disengagement from outside, but its economic policies are not those of the current government. Labor is a social-democratic party that is supposed to represent the workers, while Sharon is implementing a Thatcherian economy of privatization, reforms and a free economy... In terms of the diplomatic issues, it has always been - with the exception of Yitzchak Shamir - that every Likud Prime Minister implements the policies of the Labor government. Labor never gave back territories; only the Likud did. When Sharon was first elected [in 2001], I was in the Knesset and we were in the coalition - and Sharon did nothing. But now that Labor is not in the government, he's actually made a decision to withdraw. So we don't have to bother him..."
Several leading Labor MKs - such as Avraham Burg, Eitan Cabel, Yuli Tamir and, to some extent, party leader Amram Mitzna - are against joining the government, but party leader Shimon Peres and others are in favor: "Peres is a world-class diplomat, but I don't understand him in this instance. He has always been in favor of dialogue and a 'new Middle East,' and here he joins up with a unilateral, aggressive act on Israel's part to leave Gaza without the agreement of the other side."
Hoshaya said that he personally is not in favor of his party joining the government, however:
"Labor can support the disengagement from outside, but its economic policies are not those of the current government. Labor is a social-democratic party that is supposed to represent the workers, while Sharon is implementing a Thatcherian economy of privatization, reforms and a free economy... In terms of the diplomatic issues, it has always been - with the exception of Yitzchak Shamir - that every Likud Prime Minister implements the policies of the Labor government. Labor never gave back territories; only the Likud did. When Sharon was first elected [in 2001], I was in the Knesset and we were in the coalition - and Sharon did nothing. But now that Labor is not in the government, he's actually made a decision to withdraw. So we don't have to bother him..."
Several leading Labor MKs - such as Avraham Burg, Eitan Cabel, Yuli Tamir and, to some extent, party leader Amram Mitzna - are against joining the government, but party leader Shimon Peres and others are in favor: "Peres is a world-class diplomat, but I don't understand him in this instance. He has always been in favor of dialogue and a 'new Middle East,' and here he joins up with a unilateral, aggressive act on Israel's part to leave Gaza without the agreement of the other side."