Members of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition scrambled Tuesday to defuse a government crisis after he ousted ministers from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party who voted against his austerity plan.
Sharon faced the challenge of governing with a narrowed parliamentary majority and the possible threat of early elections, although leading politicians and independent analysts said both sides had a major stake in healing the rift.
If Sharon now becomes embroiled in a battle for his political survival, it could sidetrack international efforts to restart peacemaking after nearly 20 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
"Look, we are facing a difficult campaign, both a difficult security campaign and an economic campaign," Sharon said during a tour of a navy base in the northern city of Haifa.
The crisis erupted Monday when parliament, in a stinging defeat for Sharon, voted 47-44 against a $2.7-billion package to rein in a budget deficit swollen by higher defense spending to cover the army's recent offensive against Palestinian towns in the West Bank.
Sharon's letters of dismissal to the four ministers of Shas, Israel's third-largest party, go into effect Wednesday night, 48 hours after they were issued -- giving coalition members time to work out a solution.
Without the 17 votes commanded by Shas, Sharon's support in the 120-seat Knesset would fall from 82 seats to 65 seats.
(China Daily May 22, 2002)
