Official coalition negotiations between the Likud and Labor parties will begin this evening at 8 PM. Prime Minister Sharon and Opposition leader Shimon Peres met this morning for a preview meeting, at which at least one major difference of opinion quickly surfaced: Sharon refused Peres' request to change the coalition guidelines now, explaining that all issues could be raised in the course of the negotiations.
Coalition negotiations between the Likud and Israel's two hareidi religious parties - Shas and United Torah Judaism - are also scheduled to begin this week.
The political establishment, media and general population are already preparing for the familiar sights and sounds of coalition negotiations: posturing, recriminations, threats, climbing up 'tall trees' (with promises not to agree to such-and-such), climbing back down (with explanations that circumstances had changed), compromises, offers of various ministries and other coalition goodies, and the like. The Shinui party, for instance, now fears that it will be forced to make good on its vow not to sit in a government together with a hareidi party - and has begun attacking Likud, Labor and the hareidi parties for conspiring to bring this about. Interior Minister Avraham Poraz even said this morning that there are those in the Likud who are against an "Ashkenazic" government - prompting Prime Minister Sharon to lash out against those who would arouse the "ethnic" issue that will "engulf all of us in flames." Minister Meir Sheetrit (Likud) said that the entire ethnic matter has become a non-starter: "Given that 45% of the marriages in Israel are between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, there are no such divisions in Israel anymore."
Many Likud MKs are working against the inclusion of Labor in the government, and Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has joined forces with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to thwart Shalom's replacement with Shimon Peres. Similarly, there are Labor MKs who are against joining the government, expressing the fear that Sharon is merely using Labor for his own political interests. Some in Labor say they don't mind, however, and that their primary goal is to bring about Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
The National Religious Party is still divided as to whether or not to quit the coalition. At least one political commentator has said that Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev is remaining in the government so as not to prove party leader Effie Eitam right for having quit last month. Orlev blamed Eitam's resignation from the Housing Ministry for the recent Housing Ministry decision to suspend mortgages in Gush Katif; former MK Chanan Porat ridiculed this notion, saying that Orlev is dealing with minor matters instead of looking at the larger picture.
Prime Minister Sharon told the Cabinet this morning that some ministers are liable to have to pay with their portfolios as a result of the coalition maneuvering. He said that he was forced to begin coalition talks with Labor because he has no other way of passing and implementing his disengagement/expulsion plan. Some feel, however, that the talks are merely a way of 'buying time' until the Knesset's summer recess begins next month - during which time his government cannot be toppled.
Despite the coalition talks, no fewer than five no-confidence motions are scheduled for tomorrow. Sharon has emerged very wounded from recent votes of this sort, with two of them ending in a tie - ensuring the continued existence of his government, but in a most limping fashion. Shas has announced that it is considering dropping its motion, in honor of the opening of coalition talks - but Labor and UTJ are, at present, planning to go ahead with theirs.
Coalition negotiations between the Likud and Israel's two hareidi religious parties - Shas and United Torah Judaism - are also scheduled to begin this week.
The political establishment, media and general population are already preparing for the familiar sights and sounds of coalition negotiations: posturing, recriminations, threats, climbing up 'tall trees' (with promises not to agree to such-and-such), climbing back down (with explanations that circumstances had changed), compromises, offers of various ministries and other coalition goodies, and the like. The Shinui party, for instance, now fears that it will be forced to make good on its vow not to sit in a government together with a hareidi party - and has begun attacking Likud, Labor and the hareidi parties for conspiring to bring this about. Interior Minister Avraham Poraz even said this morning that there are those in the Likud who are against an "Ashkenazic" government - prompting Prime Minister Sharon to lash out against those who would arouse the "ethnic" issue that will "engulf all of us in flames." Minister Meir Sheetrit (Likud) said that the entire ethnic matter has become a non-starter: "Given that 45% of the marriages in Israel are between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, there are no such divisions in Israel anymore."
Many Likud MKs are working against the inclusion of Labor in the government, and Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has joined forces with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to thwart Shalom's replacement with Shimon Peres. Similarly, there are Labor MKs who are against joining the government, expressing the fear that Sharon is merely using Labor for his own political interests. Some in Labor say they don't mind, however, and that their primary goal is to bring about Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
The National Religious Party is still divided as to whether or not to quit the coalition. At least one political commentator has said that Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev is remaining in the government so as not to prove party leader Effie Eitam right for having quit last month. Orlev blamed Eitam's resignation from the Housing Ministry for the recent Housing Ministry decision to suspend mortgages in Gush Katif; former MK Chanan Porat ridiculed this notion, saying that Orlev is dealing with minor matters instead of looking at the larger picture.
Prime Minister Sharon told the Cabinet this morning that some ministers are liable to have to pay with their portfolios as a result of the coalition maneuvering. He said that he was forced to begin coalition talks with Labor because he has no other way of passing and implementing his disengagement/expulsion plan. Some feel, however, that the talks are merely a way of 'buying time' until the Knesset's summer recess begins next month - during which time his government cannot be toppled.
Despite the coalition talks, no fewer than five no-confidence motions are scheduled for tomorrow. Sharon has emerged very wounded from recent votes of this sort, with two of them ending in a tie - ensuring the continued existence of his government, but in a most limping fashion. Shas has announced that it is considering dropping its motion, in honor of the opening of coalition talks - but Labor and UTJ are, at present, planning to go ahead with theirs.