Embattled Begin to face vote of no-confidence

Press, 12 August 1980, Page 8

Embattled Begin to face vote of no-confidence

NZPA-Reuter Jerusalem

Opposition Labour Party members said yesterday they would launch a new attack on the.,embattled Government of the Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin) in Parliament tomorrow. Parliament is in summer recess, but the Government has called it into session tomorrow to approve Moshe Nissirri’s appointment as the new Justice Minister. Labour-Party sources said they would seek to turn the session into a • vote of noconfidence in the Govern-ment,-rocked in the last few days by a row between Mr

Begin and the Agriculture Minister (Mr Ariel Sharon). The Cabinet on Sunday tried to paper over the cracks by forcing Mr Sharon to apologise for accusing Mr Begin of taking important decisions “in a facile and off-hand manner.” Mr Sharon then became the only Minister to vote against the uncontroversial appointment of Mr Nissim to the Justice Ministry. Sources close to Mr Sharon said he would also vote against the appointment in Parliament tomorrow. If he did so, Mr Begin would be constitutionally empowered to dismiss him.

Mr Begin told the Cabinet on Sunday that he would consider forming a new Government as a way of imposing order on his bitterly divided Cabinet. This would give:him the chance to drop certain Ministers.

He has been increasingly paralysed over the last two months by rows between various factions in the coalition. His Parliamentary majority has also been eroded and now stands at three.

Mr Sharon, a former war hero, is the leading hardliner in the Cabinet. Two months ago, when Ezer

Weizman resigned as Defence Minister, he demanded the job for himself.

But moderate Ministers opposed this, deterred by Mr Sharon’s hawkish image. The Defence Ministry is responsible for dealing with the occupied territories and these Ministers feared Mr Sharon’s . uncompromising style might raise tensions there to breaking point. Mr Begin suggested Yitzhak Shamir for the vacant Defence portfolio, but he has been unable to follow this through because of bickering between coalition factions.

Mr Begin is running the Defence Ministry part-time, which has prompted increasing criticism and concern in the country. Meanwhile 64 Arab political prisoners at Tulkarem Jail in Israeli-occupeid West Jordan have begun a hunger strike to protest against bad conditions. Almost one month ago, 70 prisoners at Nafkha Prison began a hunger strike, during which two prisoners died accidentally while being force-fed. The strike movement has spread and now involves 450 Arab prisoners; 200 West Jordanians at Ashkelon Prison ended their strike on Friday. •