Religious party to join Sharon coalition
 |
Story Tools
SPECIAL REPORT
|
|
|
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Ariel Sharon's new government-in-the-making appeared to lean right Sunday as his Likud party reached a coalition accord with the hawkish National Religious Party.
Likud has 40 seats in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, and the NRP has six. Sharon also is holding coalition talks with the centrist, secular Shinui party, which holds 15 seats.
A Likud-Shinui-NRP coalition would give a new government 61 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
Sharon's former coalition partner, the Labor Party, has 19 seats. Sharon spoke with Labor leader Amram Mitzna by telephone Sunday morning to update him on the details of the agreement.
Last fall, the dovish Labor dropped out of a coalition that included the ultra-Orthodox Shas party and the National Unity or Yisrael Beiteinu Party, a nationalist party that favors the removal of Palestinians, over the prime minister's budget. But Labor also had serious differences with Sharon's peace-making strategies.
Sharon has courted Labor, but the NRP's stance backing Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories and opposing Palestinian statehood is diametrically opposed to Labor's desire to disband the settlements and immediately resume peace talks.
Likud and Shinui representatives were meeting Sunday afternoon for coalition discussions and the distribution of portfolios for Shinui to join the government.
Still out in the cold of the Sharon government is Shas, which won 11 seats in January's election. But Sharon still has a month to present his government to the Knesset, meaning it was still possible for other parties to join the coalition.
Besides Likud, 12 parties hold seats in the Knesset.
