The reason for the delay: he had no majority. Only some 50 MKs currently support the budget. It is not yet known when the vote will be held, but some say it will happen on Monday.
Sharon did pass another important hurdle yesterday, however, when the Knesset voted 64-44 to pass the Disengagement Implementation bill. The bill, a necessary step in Prime Minister Sharon's expulsion and evacuation program from Gaza and northern Samaria, lays out the details of the dismantling of 25 Jewish communities and the handover of their land to the Palestinian Authority.
The Labor and Meretz-Yahad parties joined the pro-expulsion Likud MKs and Shinui in the vote, while MKs of the Likud (17), Shas, National Union, United Torah Judaism and the National Religious parties cast 44 votes against the bill. The Knesset's eight Arab party MKs abstained.
The majority was smaller than it was in last week's vote, when the program was approved "in principle" by a 67-44 vote.
Opponents of the evacuation are hopeful that Sharon's failure in garnering a majority for the budget bill is an indication that the end of the government is near. They feel that the plan will reward and encourage terrorism and will pave the way for further concessions in Judea and Samaria - and all without receiving anything in return. In addition, they note that the bill forces a compensation package upon the 8,500 uprooted residents, threatens them with 3-5 years in prison for resisting the expulsion in groups of three or more, allows for the confiscation of their property, allows the Prime Minister to forbid entry to an area by his mere decree, and overrides the Basic Law's provision that citizens have rights to their property.
National Union MK Tzvi Hendel said that Sharon now has become the official leader of Peace Now and the extreme left.
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Limor Livnat, and several other ministers who threatened to vote against the plan last week if it did not include a national referendum, voted in favor last night.
Netanyahu said last week, in his own name and in those of Ministers Livnat, Katz and Naveh, that they would quit the government in two weeks if Sharon did not agree to hold a referendum. Netanyahu said this week that his threat still stands. At this point, the situation is that a referendum appears out of the question, Netanyahu's three colleagues have withdrawn their support for the ultimatum, and Netanyahu is alone in the fray. One political analyst said that he appears to be "promoting his budget plan as if he has not threatened to quit, and threatening to quit as if there were no budget to pass."
Sharon did pass another important hurdle yesterday, however, when the Knesset voted 64-44 to pass the Disengagement Implementation bill. The bill, a necessary step in Prime Minister Sharon's expulsion and evacuation program from Gaza and northern Samaria, lays out the details of the dismantling of 25 Jewish communities and the handover of their land to the Palestinian Authority.
The Labor and Meretz-Yahad parties joined the pro-expulsion Likud MKs and Shinui in the vote, while MKs of the Likud (17), Shas, National Union, United Torah Judaism and the National Religious parties cast 44 votes against the bill. The Knesset's eight Arab party MKs abstained.
The majority was smaller than it was in last week's vote, when the program was approved "in principle" by a 67-44 vote.
Opponents of the evacuation are hopeful that Sharon's failure in garnering a majority for the budget bill is an indication that the end of the government is near. They feel that the plan will reward and encourage terrorism and will pave the way for further concessions in Judea and Samaria - and all without receiving anything in return. In addition, they note that the bill forces a compensation package upon the 8,500 uprooted residents, threatens them with 3-5 years in prison for resisting the expulsion in groups of three or more, allows for the confiscation of their property, allows the Prime Minister to forbid entry to an area by his mere decree, and overrides the Basic Law's provision that citizens have rights to their property.
National Union MK Tzvi Hendel said that Sharon now has become the official leader of Peace Now and the extreme left.
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Limor Livnat, and several other ministers who threatened to vote against the plan last week if it did not include a national referendum, voted in favor last night.
Netanyahu said last week, in his own name and in those of Ministers Livnat, Katz and Naveh, that they would quit the government in two weeks if Sharon did not agree to hold a referendum. Netanyahu said this week that his threat still stands. At this point, the situation is that a referendum appears out of the question, Netanyahu's three colleagues have withdrawn their support for the ultimatum, and Netanyahu is alone in the fray. One political analyst said that he appears to be "promoting his budget plan as if he has not threatened to quit, and threatening to quit as if there were no budget to pass."