Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has warned he will fire Finance Minister Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu if he does not vote, Wednesday, against a proposal to delay the planned evacuation by six months. Aides to Netanyahu responded, "If Sharon fires Bibi, he ends his career as Likud Party chairman."
Netanyahu already has announced he will support a delay in Sunday's cabinet vote. The key vote will occur three days later in the Knesset, where Netanyahu has said he walk out in order not to vote against the government.
Likud Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz, who also heads the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, defended Netanyahu's planned walkout, calling it "an accepted norm in the Knesset…when [an MK] does not want to break the coalition but has a problem with his conscience. He pointed out that Sharon did the same thing several years ago, during Netanyahu’s term as prime minister, at the time of a vote to ratify an agreement with Yasser Arafat over Hevron.
Lior Horev, an aide to the Prime Minister, responded that walking out to avoid voting "may be acceptable but is not desirable." He added that Netanyahu already has voted with the government six times on various bills on the plan to force more than 9,000 Jews out of their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria in August, and hand over the areas to the Palestinian Authority (PA). He accused Netanyahu of trying to cause a crisis by conducting a campaign during this week's votes.
Netanyahu has won admiration and respect from domestic and international businessmen for his economic policies. Firing him could jolt the economy and financial markets. Similarly, Sharon also does not want to risk a comparable jolt in the diplomatic world if the Knesset succeeds in upsetting the timetable for the evacuation.
Netanyahu originally announced that he would be out of the country during Wednesday's vote, but Sharon's aides said they would not accept Netanyahu's trying to "violate his collective responsibility. The citizens of Israel are fed up with this zigzag of Bibi. We estimate that Bibi will vote with the government" in the Knesset.
Labor party ministers Ophir Pines and Matan Vilnai asked the Prime Minister to prevent the Cabinet from voting on the proposal on Sunday. Katz and Netanyahu "are trying…a dangerous illusion, for political purposes," and it will cause violence, according to Vilnai.
Leading business leaders Saturday night were trying to forge a compromise between the Sharon and Netanyahu camps.
Netanyahu already has announced he will support a delay in Sunday's cabinet vote. The key vote will occur three days later in the Knesset, where Netanyahu has said he walk out in order not to vote against the government.
Likud Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz, who also heads the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, defended Netanyahu's planned walkout, calling it "an accepted norm in the Knesset…when [an MK] does not want to break the coalition but has a problem with his conscience. He pointed out that Sharon did the same thing several years ago, during Netanyahu’s term as prime minister, at the time of a vote to ratify an agreement with Yasser Arafat over Hevron.
Lior Horev, an aide to the Prime Minister, responded that walking out to avoid voting "may be acceptable but is not desirable." He added that Netanyahu already has voted with the government six times on various bills on the plan to force more than 9,000 Jews out of their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria in August, and hand over the areas to the Palestinian Authority (PA). He accused Netanyahu of trying to cause a crisis by conducting a campaign during this week's votes.
Netanyahu has won admiration and respect from domestic and international businessmen for his economic policies. Firing him could jolt the economy and financial markets. Similarly, Sharon also does not want to risk a comparable jolt in the diplomatic world if the Knesset succeeds in upsetting the timetable for the evacuation.
Netanyahu originally announced that he would be out of the country during Wednesday's vote, but Sharon's aides said they would not accept Netanyahu's trying to "violate his collective responsibility. The citizens of Israel are fed up with this zigzag of Bibi. We estimate that Bibi will vote with the government" in the Knesset.
Labor party ministers Ophir Pines and Matan Vilnai asked the Prime Minister to prevent the Cabinet from voting on the proposal on Sunday. Katz and Netanyahu "are trying…a dangerous illusion, for political purposes," and it will cause violence, according to Vilnai.
Leading business leaders Saturday night were trying to forge a compromise between the Sharon and Netanyahu camps.