Some in the Likud are worried that these MKs are known for being more extreme in their left-wing views than their peers.
MK Ophir Pines-Paz announced Saturday night that he would opt for the Interior Ministry, a multi-faceted and powerful post that influences budgets to local governments, citizenship and immigration, emergency services, supervision of elections and construction laws.
MK Yitzchak Herzog said he would take over the Construction and Housing Ministry, responsible for development projects throughout the country, including in Judea and Samaria and Gaza. Herzog said he intends to use the post "to help needy families and to help with the disengagement." He said he wants to promote development in the Negev and Galilee.
Pines-Paz said over the weekend, "After the disengagement is implemented, Labor will consider whether it will continue in the national unity government."
Leading Labor MK Dali Itzik has made similar remarks over the past few days, though she added on Thursday that she has "reason to believe" the disengagement will not be the last move of its type.
Entry into the government of the Laborite doves may also weaken several Likud MKs' support for the coalition.
For these and other reasons, some Likud members are demanding that their party reconsider the coalition deal with Labor. "The Labor members have no interest in anything other than the disengagement and rehabilitating their party," said Uri Faraj, head of the Petach Tikvah branch of the Likud Party. Speaking with Arutz-7 today, Faraj said, " By inviting Labor into the government, we are simply providing it with 'shock treatment' to awaken it from its slumber... This will be a government that will lead nowhere other than possibly to a civil war."
Faraj demands that the coalition deal with Labor be presented to the Likud Central Committee for its approval. If this demand is met, this would be the third time that the Central Committee will be dealing with this matter. It voted down a Likud-Labor-Shinui coalition several months ago, and approved a Likud-Labor-hareidi coalition three weeks ago.
Pines, a member of a Conservative synagogue in Jerusalem, and Herzog, grandson of Israel's late Chief Rabbi Herzog for whom he was named, were the surprise winners in a Labor party internal election Thursday which relegated senior party members to lower positions.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Likud members responded privately that Pines does not have the experience needed to handle the complicated and sensitive Interior Ministry. Pines claimed that he has enough experience to handle the post, which he cited as important because it deals with "all Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs and new immigrants."
Sharon is also concerned that the new ministers will demand to be part of the inner cabinet on security affairs. Pines, who has been one of Sharon's harshest critics, has already said that he might not insist on receiving that privilege.
The ministers cannot take office until a Likud-Labor-United Torah Judaism coalition is sealed. The major obstacle is the demand of Labor party leader Shimon Peres to be appointed as special deputy to the prime minister. Approval of the post requires a change in a basic government law, and the bill will not pass committee hearings and come up for a Knesset vote for at least two weeks.
MK Ophir Pines-Paz announced Saturday night that he would opt for the Interior Ministry, a multi-faceted and powerful post that influences budgets to local governments, citizenship and immigration, emergency services, supervision of elections and construction laws.
MK Yitzchak Herzog said he would take over the Construction and Housing Ministry, responsible for development projects throughout the country, including in Judea and Samaria and Gaza. Herzog said he intends to use the post "to help needy families and to help with the disengagement." He said he wants to promote development in the Negev and Galilee.
Pines-Paz said over the weekend, "After the disengagement is implemented, Labor will consider whether it will continue in the national unity government."
Leading Labor MK Dali Itzik has made similar remarks over the past few days, though she added on Thursday that she has "reason to believe" the disengagement will not be the last move of its type.
Entry into the government of the Laborite doves may also weaken several Likud MKs' support for the coalition.
For these and other reasons, some Likud members are demanding that their party reconsider the coalition deal with Labor. "The Labor members have no interest in anything other than the disengagement and rehabilitating their party," said Uri Faraj, head of the Petach Tikvah branch of the Likud Party. Speaking with Arutz-7 today, Faraj said, " By inviting Labor into the government, we are simply providing it with 'shock treatment' to awaken it from its slumber... This will be a government that will lead nowhere other than possibly to a civil war."
Faraj demands that the coalition deal with Labor be presented to the Likud Central Committee for its approval. If this demand is met, this would be the third time that the Central Committee will be dealing with this matter. It voted down a Likud-Labor-Shinui coalition several months ago, and approved a Likud-Labor-hareidi coalition three weeks ago.
Pines, a member of a Conservative synagogue in Jerusalem, and Herzog, grandson of Israel's late Chief Rabbi Herzog for whom he was named, were the surprise winners in a Labor party internal election Thursday which relegated senior party members to lower positions.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Likud members responded privately that Pines does not have the experience needed to handle the complicated and sensitive Interior Ministry. Pines claimed that he has enough experience to handle the post, which he cited as important because it deals with "all Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs and new immigrants."
Sharon is also concerned that the new ministers will demand to be part of the inner cabinet on security affairs. Pines, who has been one of Sharon's harshest critics, has already said that he might not insist on receiving that privilege.
The ministers cannot take office until a Likud-Labor-United Torah Judaism coalition is sealed. The major obstacle is the demand of Labor party leader Shimon Peres to be appointed as special deputy to the prime minister. Approval of the post requires a change in a basic government law, and the bill will not pass committee hearings and come up for a Knesset vote for at least two weeks.