Nieuwsartikel 2002

PM summons Infrastructure Min. Effi Eitam to emergency meeting

By Yossi Verter, Ha'aretz Correspondent

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon summoned Infrastructure Minister Effi Eitam to an urgent meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on Tuesday, to discuss the National Religious Party chairman's comments against Labor chairman and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer on Monday.

Earlier Tuesday, Sharon met with Labor party ministers, and discussed with them his response to comments made by Eitam against Ben-Eliezer.

The Labor ministers demanded that Sharon take decisive steps against Eitam, while the premier asked for one or two days to consider his response.

On Monday, Eitam called Ben-Eliezer a "cheat, liar and a coward," and called on him to resign over the evacuation of the illegal outpost of Havat Gilad on Saturday. Eitam subsequently apologized for his remarks, but the defense minister said that he did not accept the so-called apology and that unless something dramatic was to happen, he would recommend that the Labor Party resign from the government.

Senior Labor figures, including MKs Haim Ramon and Avraham Burg, are demanding that Ben-Eliezer take Labor out of the government because of the comments.

The chair of the Knesset's Ethics Committee, MK Colette Avital (Labor) called on Sharon and the attorney general, Elyakim Rubinstein, to fire infrastructure minister Effi Eitam, and to charge him with incitement. Avital claimed that Eitam's inciting comments were made possible because similar utterances in the past had not been properly dealt with.

Avital had previously lodged a complaint about Eitam in July, after he publicly called for Marwan Barghouti to be shot in the head. On another occasion, Eitam said: "Let's tell Fuad [Ben-Eliezer] - first of all your hand, then your arm, then maybe your head." At the time, Rubinstein said that the complaint had been transferred to the Justice Ministry for investigation. Cabinet secretary, attorney Gideon Sa'ar, told Avital that Eitam's comments were not connected to his position as a government minister, and do not reflect the official position of the Israeli government.

Labor and Likud to discuss budget

Finance Minister Silvan Shalom will present the 2003 state budget to the Knesset Wednesday. The first reading of the bill will be held next Tuesday. On Sunday, the Labor party central committee will meet to hear an update on negotiations between the party and representatives of the treasury, and to decide how the party will vote when the budget is debated in the Knesset.

Several hours before the Labor lawmakers meet, Sharon will meet with Ben-Eliezer and Shalom, to discuss the progress made in Labor's demands for changes to the budget. The treasury hopes that the second and third readings of the budget will be approved by mid-December, two weeks before it is due to come into force. On Monday, Ben-Eliezer instructed the Labor negotiating team to freeze all contacts, until the treasury discloses what agreements have been reached with other parties.