 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Likud chief: Time for 4 ministers to quitNetanyahu objects to Palestinian voting in east JerusalemFrom Shirley Zilberstein  Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinian voting proposal would amount to dividing Jerusalem. RELATEDYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSJERUSALEM (CNN) -- Four Cabinet ministers from Israel's conservative Likud Party have been told to submit their resignations ahead of elections scheduled for March, party leader Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. The ministers -- Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Health Minister Danny Naveh, Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz and Education Minister Limor Livnat -- are now expected to deliver their resignations Thursday. But Netanyahu's call for their resignations is not binding, and there was no immediate indication from any of the ministers that they would follow through. Netanyahu said Likud objects to Wednesday's decision by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to allow Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem to vote in the Palestinian Authority's January 25 elections. He said that would amount to dividing Jerusalem. In a statement late Wednesday, he said the resignations were to have been announced at a Cabinet meeting Sunday. But the move was delayed when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- who left Likud to form the centrist Kadima Party ahead of the elections -- suffered a massive stroke last week. Netanyahu said he put off the move until Israel's political parties resumed work. Sharon remained in serious condition Wednesday at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, doctors said. One of his physicians said the 77-year-old leader's recovery would likely take months. Olmert, who joined Sharon in bolting Likud, has been serving as the country's interim leader and is expected to lead Kadima into the elections. He said Wednesday he would submit the Palestinian vote plan to the Cabinet for approval. The Palestinian Authority had threatened to call off the parliamentary elections because the Israeli government had said it would not allow Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem to vote at post offices. On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the Palestinians would be allowed to vote at post offices, a method they have used in the past. But Shalom objected, saying they should not, because Hamas is involved in the elections. Hamas has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on Israelis, and Israel and the United States have designated the group a terrorist organization. Olmert's decision to submit the issue to the Cabinet was expected to bring a resolution to the question. Olmert said he submitted the issue because it is clear that Hamas personnel and materials will not be used in Jerusalem. Hamas is expected to make major gains in the elections against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that "free and fair" elections were "a key step in the process of building a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state." Without naming Hamas, she made it clear that any party participating in a representative government must "renounce terror and violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and disarm." "To participate in a peace process of Israelis and Palestinians, the Palestinian partner must at least accept Israel's right to exist," she said in a statement. "To implement agreements on movement and access for the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian partner must be committed to preventing violence," she said. "In short, the Palestinian partner must be committed to peaceful development." Netanyahu served as prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and held the post of finance minister in Sharon's government. He quit in August over Sharon's decision to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from Gaza, and Likud members picked him in December to replace Sharon at the party's helm. He told CNN Sunday he was not focusing on politics because of Sharon's illness. "This is one of the moments you have to put politics aside, however briefly. You do what is right and decent for the country," he said in his first interview after Sharon's stroke. (Full story) Medical experts have said it is unlikely Sharon would recover enough to be able to lead the country. On Wednesday, doctors said they saw "slight improvement" Wednesday in Sharon's condition. Doctors have been slowly lowering Sharon's anesthesia dosage, which has kept the prime minister in a medically induced coma. (Full story) 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
