A right-wing member of parliament likened Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's peace policies to prostitution Tuesday, triggering cries of protest from Barak allies.
MP Uzi Landau of the opposition Likud Party charged that "the government's policies have descended to the level of street prostitution."
"Its policies lack principle, as they seek to give up everything to the highest bidder," Landau said in a special session of parliament, called by the rightwing one month before the body reconvenes from summer recess.
The comments caused outrage in parliament. Ofer Pines, of Barak's Labor Party, complained that Landau's remarks were "base, provocative and unworthy of a parliamentarian."
Likud MP Rubi Rivlin, who presided over the meeting, eventually managed to call the parliament back to order, as the rightwing continued to tear into Barak for making concessions to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat without, in its view, securing anything in return.
Separately, Barak insisted that he was working to repair his standing in parliament, where he lost his majority in July before heading to the United States for a summit with Arafat.
Barak told army radio that he was "looking at the possibility of enlarging the government's base before the parliament's return" by talking with Meretz, a left-wing party that has 10 members who left his coalition after a dispute with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, the largest party to desert Barak in July.
Barak said his government was also in contact with the secular Shinui party, which has six members in parliament, the two-deputy labor union-allied Am Ehad and the centrist Russian immigrant Democratic Choice, which also has two members in parliament.
Public radio reported that Barak was hoping to form a coalition with 50 of the 120 MPs. Assuming the support of the 10 Israeli Arab MPs, such a coalition would prevent opposition attempts to topple the government, as censure motions require 61 votes.
The parliament approved a preliminary reading August 2 of a Likud-sponsored bill to call early elections. To take effect the measure needs to be approved in three readings after the parliament reconvenes -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
