RINKE CADILLAC

vently Orthodox Shas Party — which
vehemently opposes the announced
steps. Shas members walked out of
the coalition, saying the party could
not accept the compromises on con-
trol of east Jerusalem and the West
Bank settlements that Barak offered
Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat at
the Camp David summit meeting
last month. Shas has always been a
tentative government partner, using
its Knesset seats as the leverage for
concessions on financing and moni-
toring its bankrupt and sometimes
corrupt school system.
Barak publicly prodded the Likud
Party to support his measures. But
Ariel Sharon, leader of the main
opposition party, said Barak's
announcement reflected his govern-
ment's panic — and predicted the
measures would not pass. That fore-
cast was widely shared, as the One
Israel party holds less than one third
of the seats in the parliament.
But the announcement is the lat-
est in a series that appears to be
aimed at winning favor with the
Israeli public, to which Barak would
turn in the event he calls early elec-
tions later this year.
Last week, Finance Minister
Avraham Shochat announced a num-
ber of dramatic cuts in sales taxes on
such items as household appliances
and electronics.
Barak lost his parliamentary majori-
ty when three parties walked out of his
governing coalition in protest against
the Camp David summit. His coali-
tion was left with 42 members out of
the 120-member Knesset.
The embattled prime minister has
been trying to rebuild his coalition
during the Knesset's summer recess
while simultaneously working to
advance peace efforts with the
Palestinians. He said he would con-
tinue simultaneously with efforts to
make peace with Israel's neighbors.
At the same time, however, specu-
lation has intensified that Barak may
have to face early elections if he is
unable to cobble together a govern-
ment or head off efforts to vote his
coalition out of office.
His political worries deepened
Monday when Haim Mendel Shaked,
one of his old army friends, quit his
administrative post as director of
Barak's office. The resignation was a
symbolic blow because he had been
loyal to Barak for many years.
Shaked was the second member of
Barak's office to quit following the
resignation last week of his own
deputy, Shimon Batat. ❑

Years - -
83
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