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New Labour Leader Plans to Remove Party From Israeli Government - Radio

Posted on: Thursday, 10 November 2005, 06:00 CST

Israel radio has reported on the results of the Labour Party elections on 10 November:

At 0500 gmt it reported: "A turnabout in the Labour Party: Amir Peretz succeeded in beating Shimon Peres and is the new party chairman. Amir Peretz won 42.35 per cent of the votes, while Shimon Peres gained 39.96 per cent. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer came third with 17 per cent. Labour Party Secretary Eytan Cabel says that 13 ballot boxes were examined at the request of Peres's men, but after all the voting slips were examined, no proof was found corroborating the claims of forgery, and Peres's representatives confirmed the integrity of these ballot boxes. Cabel urged the Labour Party members to unite and assist Amir Peretz.

Removing Labour from government

"The new party chairman urged his supporters to demonstrate restraint and to put an end to the factionalism in the Labour Party. Peretz said: We are all one body. He called Shimon Peres, his teacher, to join him and help him continue leading the party, adding: I need you. Peretz urged Peres to assist him towards helping the Labour Party and the people of Israel. He urged his other colleagues in the party to unite behind his leadership, saying that a united Labour Party will succeed in increasing its strength in the elections. According to Peretz, millions of people woke up this morning realizing there is great hope. Peretz announced that the present moment is the moment in which the demon of social sectorialism is being buried in Israel. The new chairman said he will act towards removing the Labour Party from the government.

"Binyamin Ben-Eliezer phoned the new chairman and congratulated him for his victory. Peres has not yet done so."

At 0505 gmt, presenter Arye Golan and party affairs correspondent Yoav Krakowsky interviewed Peretz at the Labour Party headquarters. Asked when he would inform Prime Minister Sharon that the Labour Party was leaving the government, Peretz replied: "I plan to hold talks with all the ministers and MKs as soon as possible, in the next few days. I will convince them that they should give the new chairman credit. Just as [former Israeli Prime Minister] Eshkol said in the past: Give me credit. I ask to receive this credit, because anybody elected receives it. I am the one who has to lead the Labour Party in the next elections, and I certainly deserve to receive credit for the moves, because I will be the one who bears the responsibility if they prove unsuccessful. If, however, they prove successful, everybody will enjoy this success."

Peretz added: "Look, Arik Sharon has corrected some of the mistakes he has made in the past. After all, he was the one who laid the foundations for the settlement enterprise, which absorbed a large part of the resources that should have been invested in the development towns and the neighbourhoods. He corrected some of this damage. Sharon also succeeded in doing something important by shattering the Greater Israel dream and by presenting to the Israelis a new concept, according to which there is no reason to subordinate all the interests of the state of Israel and its citizens to a dream that has deceived so many Israelis."

Asked why he should not give Sharon more credit at this point, Peretz replied: "Because Arik Sharon has no intention of pursuing his political moves. I am convinced of this. Arik Sharon is the prime minister of poverty; he is the one who backed all the moves implemented by [former Finance Minister] Binyamin Netanyahu. It is inconceivable that the prime minister only take credit for the government's success, while dodging responsibility for the most grave damage caused by his government, as though he was not there."

"New world view"

Peretz added: "We have to speak about a new world view, and it has nothing to do with the free market and competition. I support a free market and competition. However, we must not subjugate the Israeli person. It is inconceivable that in the very same year in which so many harsh decrees have been imposed on millions of people more new millionaires have popped up here than since the establishment of the state."

At 0600 gmt, the radio added: "Amir Peretz's associates say that Peretz plans to convene the Labour Party Central Committee in approximately three weeks in order to submit for its approval the decision to withdraw the Labour Party from the government."

"Interior Minister Ofir Pines says the decision to leave the government should be received by a majority of the Labour Party leaders and institutions. Pines noted that if the orders of priorities in the draft budget are not changed, the Labour Party must not remain in the government. Minister Pines congratulated Amir Peretz for his election as party chairman, saying that the party members must unite behind him and assist him in getting elected as prime minister. He added that were he Shimon Peres, he would have called Peretz and congratulated him for his victory. Minister Pines spoke on Voice of Israel this morning.

"Upheaval"

"Shinuy Party Chairman MK Yosef Lapid said Peretz's victory is one of the most significant political upheavals in Israel's history. According to Lapid, the Israeli middle class no longer has any representation in the two big parties, and it can be assumed that Shinuy will win its votes.

"Meretz-Yahad Chairman Yosi Beilin congratulates Peretz for his victory and urges the Labour Party to accept his demand to immediately leave the government.

"MK Efi Eytam of the National Union calls on the new Labour Party chairman to launch a dialogue with the opposition factions on determining an agreed-upon date for elections."

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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