Скачать или смотреть ISRAEL: JERUSALEM KNESSET VOTING 3

(7 Jun 2000) English/Nat

Palestinian legislators meeting in Ramallah for their weekly Council meeting have reacted strongly to news of Wednesday's vote on dissolving the Knesset.

Israel's parliament gave preliminary approval on Wednesday to a bill to hold early elections.

Palestinian legislators said they hoped the result would not be used as an excuse to delay the Middle East peace process.

Unhappy factions within Barak's six-party coalition were confident early Wednesday, that they could get the result they desired and pass a vote for early elections.

Their calculations were proved correct.

Three of the six parties in Prime Minister Ehud Barak's coalition government supported the bill, giving it a 61-48 majority in Israel's 120-member parliament.

Although the vote was bad news for Ehud Barak, it by no means signals the end for his coalition government.

Political process dictates that the government has to lose three further votes before elections can be called.

Israel's political turmoil erupted after Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, refused to give his largest coalition partner, Shas, millions of additional dollars for its bankrupt, scandal-ridden Orthodox school system.

Barak also broke off talks after Shas announced it would vote for new elections.

He then threatened to fire any Cabinet minister who voted for the opposition initiative and declared that ministers who voted against his government would, in effect, be resigning.

After losing Wednesday's vote, Barak now has several options.

He can try to appease Shas by resuming negotiations over funding for the school
system, or he can fire all the ministers who did not support him Wednesday and try to put together a new coalition ahead of the next vote.

Barak said he is not afraid of facing the voters, adding that "the people will judge all those who are interfering" with his efforts to make peace with the Arabs.

Israel's election system, instituted in 1996, contains its own triggers for constant coalition crises, fragmenting the parliament into more than a dozen factions.

Some blame the constitution for Wednesday's result.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I regret it but I think maybe it's the result of the electoral system."
SUPER CAPTION: Simon Peres, Minister (without a portfolio)

Some ministers in Israel are warning that the vote result spells major trouble for the government.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"There's no question, it is a crisis, a crisis because if three parties that are part of the coalition voted for this vote, the meaning of it is that there is no coalition.
SUPER CAPTION: Avraham Shohat, Treasury Minister, and Labour Party member

Dominant Shas party member and Health Minister, Shlomo Ben-Izri, suggested on Wednesday that the party's 17 legislators supported the bill only because they did not want to give in to Barak's ultimatum over the school system.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Now the ball is with the prime minister. If he will decide to try to find a solution to our crisis I think that we'll be able to continue in this government but if he will decide that this is the end, with Shas party, if we leave the coalition, I think the election will be very soon.
SUPER CAPTION: Shlomo Benizri, Health Minister and Shas Party member

Speaking from Ramallah on Wednesday, Palestinian Chief Negotiator, Saab Erekat, said he hoped the vote would not be used as an excuse to delay peace or make concessions to extremists.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
SUPER CAPTION: Saeb Erekat, Palestinian Chief Negotiator


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