JERUSALEM: Far-right Israeli faction opposed to relinquishing occupied land joins Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's governing coalition

A far-right Israeli faction opposed to relinquishing occupied land joined Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's governing coalition on Monday (October 30), a partnership likely to complicate any peace efforts with the Palestinians. Israel's parliament ratified Yisrael Beitenu's membership of the government. The party is led by Avigdor Lieberman, a firebrand settler who has become a figure of hate for Israel's Arab minority. "I, Avigdor Lieberman, son of Lev and Esther Fira, affirm as a member of the government to stay loyal to the state of Israel and its laws, to carry out sincerely my duties as a member of the government and to follow the decisions of the parliament," Lieberman said in his swearing in ceremony. Lieberman and his party advocate annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank and jurisdictional transfer of several Arab towns in Israel to the Palestinian Authority. All but one cabinet member voted in favour of membership, Israel Radio said, after Olmert's main coalition partner, the left-leaning Labour party led by Defence Minister Amir Peretz, decided on Sunday (October 29) to remain in the government despite its differences with Lieberman. The 120-member parliament approved the expanded government on Monday night with 61 lawmakers voting in favour and 38 opposing it. The minister who voted in cabinet against Lieberman and his party's inclusion, Ofir Pines-Paz of the Labour party, announced his resignation from Olmert's cabinet in a televised news conference. "At the moment that the government of Israel decided to co-opt Avigdor Lieberman, and Yisrael Beitenu that has a platform with racist characteristics and leaders and leaders who are infected with racist statements and hurtful statements ... statements that hurt the democratic essence of the state of Israel, I was left with no other way but to reserve the way. I submitted my letter of resignation with a heavy heart. I wanted to continue and serve within the government, I wanted to influence its policy, I wanted to take part in decisions regarding the future of the country, especially in this difficult time," Pines-Paz, who holds the science and technology, culture and sport portfolios told reporters. He also said he would stand for the leadership of his party when Labour holds a ballot sometime next year. "Despite the great difficulty and my desire to be a part of the decision-making circle, I cannot give up my conscience," Pines-Paz added. He said Lieberman and other Yisrael Beitenu party members were "tainted through their racist and anti-democratic pronouncements." His resignation will take effect 48 hours after he delivers his resignation letter to the cabinet. Another strong opposition to Lieberman came from Israeli Arabs lawmakers who demonstrated outside the Knesset building in protest. "We are protesting against the fact that Lieberman became a part of the main stream of the Israeli politics and a deputy of the prime minister of Israel. I think it is not problem of Arabs, it's a problem of the Israeli democracy and we think that the state of Israel takes a few serious steps to the direction of Fascism," said Israeli Arab lawmaker Mohammed Barake. Winning Lieberman's support while keeping Labour at his side marked a reversal of fortunes for Olmert, whose popularity, along with Peretz's, has plummeted in opinion polls since last summer's indecisive war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. Yisrael Beitenu's 11 lawmakers will give Olmert's coalition control of 78 seats in parliament -- a particularly strong majority in Israeli politics. Olmert, speaking after the cabinet vote, said the government's guidelines, which include seeking a peace settlement based on creation of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel, would go unchanged. With prospects poor for a renewal of Middle East peace efforts any time soon, there appear to be few issues ahead that could divide the new Israeli alliance. Olmert has wide backing at home, and from the United States, for his refusal to engage in any dialogue with a Palestinian government led by Hamas until the Islamist group recognises Israel and existing interim peace deals and renounces violence. Nabil Shaath, a senior member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, called Lieberman "a dangerous creature" and said his inclusion in the cabinet was "an ugly symbol of the direction this Israeli government is taking". Shifting Israel's public focus towards fears of a nuclear Iran, Olmert announced after the 34-day Lebanon war ended in August that the "realignment" plan on which his centrist Kadima party won election in March was no longer a pressing issue. The proposal called for the dismantling of dozens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, while strengthening others in the absence of peacemaking. Taking it off the agenda helped pave the way for Lieberman to join the coalition. Olmert has given Lieberman, who will be one of his deputy prime ministers, special responsibility for strategic issues, Israeli shorthand for Iran's nuclear programme which Israel and the West fear Tehran will use to build nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic, whose president has called for Israel's destruction, says it is enriching uranium only to generate electricity. Lieberman, a 48-year-old immigrant from the former Soviet Union who once worked as a night club bouncer, has served twice as a cabinet minister.

ITN Source | October 31, 2006

Tags:. .alongside. .loyal. .hezbollah. .islamist. .occupied