From:    heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To:      "Arutz-7 List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date:    Wed, 31 Dec 1997 01:48:51 +0000
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, December 30, 1997

 

From:          Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To:            arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, December 30, 1997

Arutz Sheva News Service
Tuesday, December 30, 1997 / Rosh Chodesh Tevet, 5758
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
  1. COALITION PARTIES REGROUP
  2. MOLEDET AND NRP GOODIES
  3. GOVERNMENT MAY NOT LAST
  4. DEFENSE MINISTER'S YESHA STANCE DEFENDED
  5. GALILEE ARABS EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIANS

1. COALITION PARTIES REGROUP
The government finally won a budget vote today in the Knesset.  The latest
objections to the budget bill were overruled by 59 coalition MKs against 55
opposition members.  The government's success was facilitated after
all-night negotiations between the Prime Minister and MKs of Yisrael
B'Aliyah, the National Religious Party, and even the two-MK opposition
party Moledet.  Health Minister Yehoshua Matza and Tsomet MK Modi Zandberg
also returned to vote with the coalition.  The Gesher party and two United
Torah Judaism MKs remain dissatisfied, and did not vote with the government
today.  

Opposition MKs demanded that the agreements with the parties be publicized
in the Knesset.  Although there is no legal obligation to do so, Likud
faction leader Moshe Katzav said that the agreements would in fact be made
public.  The final votes on the budget will take place tomorrow morning.
They were to have begun this evening, but both major parties agreed to a
postponement so that the MKs could attend the Bar Mitzvah celebration of
Katzav's son tonight.

2. MOLEDET AND NRP GOODIES
The Moledet party has already released a copy of its agreement with the
Prime Minister - reached at 4 AM this morning - to support of the national
budget.  The agreement includes the following elements:
* the establishment of an educational seminar in the Yesha community of
Rechelim, near Shilo;
* the paving of a new highway to connect Jerusalem and Rachel's Tomb, via
the Tunnels Highway;
* the granting of 100,000-shekel mortgage loans to residents of Maaleh
Ephraim, Kiryat Arba, Netzarim, Kfar Darom, and Morag;
* the opening of Avner ben Ner's tomb in Hevron to Jewish worshippers;
* the paving of a by-pass road from Talmon and Nachaliel to Kiryat Sefer;
* the appointment of a Moledet representative to the Israel Broadcasting
Authority board;
* additional funding for the Environment Patrol;
* 30 million shekels for neighborhood renewal and rural construction.
In addition, the agreement with Moledet stipulates that the Prime Minister
will act to attain a license for a regional radio station in Yesha within
90 days

The National Religious Party's achievements in its budgetary negotiations:
* more by-pass roads in Judea and northern Samaria;
* additional construction in isolated Yesha communities;
* separation of the Yesha communities' water networks from the Arab networks;
* additional funding for rural construction;
* 50,000 additional hours for the educational network.

3. GOVERNMENT MAY NOT LAST
Despite the progress made between the Prime Minister and the coalition
partners on budgetary issues, feeling is still strong that the government
will not serve out its term.  The next big hurdle - the second withdrawal
from Yesha - will be its last, according to some.  Senior NRP and Likud
figures estimate that Netanyahu himself may initiate early elections on
this issue.  At a meeting yesterday with Knesset Members of Yisrael
B'Aliyah, the Prime Minister said, "If you want to topple me, topple me on
the withdrawal issue and not over the budget."  

Third Way leader Avigdor Kahalani, who appeared on various television shows
last night to announce that he would act to disperse the Knesset and call
for new elections, canceled these plans this morning.  He explained that he
learned this morning that the agreements made with the smaller coalition
parties will not "overextend the original budget very much."  Kahalani's
party colleague Yehuda Harel said that he will continue to work for early
elections, however.

4. DEFENSE MINISTER'S YESHA STANCE DEFENDED
Defense Minister Yitzchak Mordechai will insist that the communities in
Judea and Samaria remain under Israeli control in any future permanent
arrangement with the Palestinians, and not merely as enclaves within
Palestinian area.  So said Eli Cohen, Assistant to the Defense Minister for
Settlement Affairs, in an interview on Arutz-7 today.  He explained that
the map presented by Mordechai to the government several weeks ago does not
delineate a permanent-status proposal, as does the map of Minister Ariel
Sharon, but rather displays areas of national interest and areas of
security importance.  "Minister Mordechai feels that some of the Yesha
communities, including the areas surrounding them, are of even greater
importance than the areas delineated as security interests," Cohen said.
He said, though, that Mordechai does not wish to arouse false hopes, and
that for thi