Barak to join Sharon Cabinet

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN) FEB. 16. Israel's care-taker Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, is to serve as Defence Minister in the Cabinet of Mr. Ariel Sharon, the man who has been elected to replace him. With Mr. Shimon Peres also expected to join the Sharon Cabinet as Foreign Minister there is hope that the national unity Government to be formed will not deviate too far from the ``peace option'' that has been pursued for the past few years.

At the same time, Israel has been left be-dazzled by Mr. Barak's political gymnastics that one commentator has dubbed ``a back flip with a double twist''.

Mr. Barak took his decision to join the Cabinet, and presented the guidelines according to which the coalition Government is to operate, before a committee of his Labour party yesterday. He urged the committee to approve the deal and is likely to repeat the plea when the central committee of the party meets to consider the issue after the week-end.

Between them, Mr. Barak and Mr. Peres have enough clout within the central committee to win approval for the deal but some of the left-wing Labourites are so opposed to any co-existence with Mr. Sharon's Likud party that they might resign from Labour. Labourites such as Mr. Yossi Beilin are expected to join hands with other leftist and pro-peace parties to set up yet another organisation in Israel's political firmament.

With the Likud Labour agreement in his hands, Mr. Sharon has taken a giant step towards the formation of a unity Government that will also include right-wing parties though perhaps not the most extreme of these.

According to a report in Haaretz Mr. Barak has given up his demand that two policy points should be included in the coalition agreement. Mr. Barak had wanted the coalition agreement to enshrine that the Palestinians would be allowed to set up a state and that Israel would dismantle isolated Jewish settlements.

In response, Mr. Sharon was said to have dropped his ``red lines'', or the limits which he would not cross in dealing with the Palestinians, from the draft of the coalition agreement. The ``red lines'' were that he would not negotiate while the violent uprising continued, that he would never recognise any right of return of the Palestinian refugees and that he would never divide Jerusalem.

The non-inclusion of these policy points in the coalition agreement does not mean that either side has abandoned its known positions. It is just a matter of putting these matters aside while focusing on the areas in which the could find agreement.

Each and every one of these issues is bound to become the subject of endless bargaining within the coalition.

With the right wing parties bound to contribute their voice to the debate it would be a wonder is some party or the other did not soon tire of the cacophony. For the present, however, Mr. Sharon is expected to form a Government in which his Likud will have eight Ministers, including himself, and the Labour seven.

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Section  : International
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