A group of Arab Israel MPs has withdrawn the censure motion it planned to submit against Prime Minister Ehud Barak Monday, but he still has to see off another one just a few hours before he heads for the key Camp David summit with the Palestinians, a parliamentary source said.
A motion by an Arab Israeli member of parliament, Ahmed Tibi, on social matters, was withdrawn at the last minute, so as not bring down the government before the summit, which starts Tuesday.
The remaining motion, which comes a day after three of the six parties in the ruling coalition quit the government, comes from the right-wing opposition Likud group, and is "against Barak's concessions and his capitulations to Palestinian president Yasser Arafat even before the summit."
After the defections of the Israel B'Aliya party of Russian immigrants, which has four seats in the 120-seat parliament, the National Religious Party of the Jewish settlers, with five, and most crucially of all the ultra-Orthodox Shas party with 17, the outcome of the vote is likely be tight in the extreme.
All three are hostile to the planned summit.
The new alignment of forces in the parliament resulting from the series of defections from the government has led Likud to try to drum up all possible supporters in the hope of achieving the 61 votes needed to bring down the government - OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
