Sharon facing clash with loyal partner

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was set on a collision course today with his most loyal coalition partner, the Shinui Party, raising prospects of early elections that could postpone an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon has been walking a political tightrope since he lost his parliamentary majority several months ago, with hard-liners bolting over his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements in 2005.

In Gaza fighting, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in separate incidents last night. One of the dead was a doctor who witnesses said was sitting in his garden when he was hit by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell.

Sharon’s coalition problems heightened today because he needs to get his 2005 state budget approved in parliament.

The opposition Labour Party – which had provided a parliamentary safety net to Sharon because it supports his plan of “disengagement” from the Palestinians - announced last week that it will not vote for the 2005 budget. Labour opposes the budget because of cuts in social spending.

In trying to cobble together the necessary parliamentary majority, Sharon on Sunday agreed to transfer 420 million shekels (€72.4m) to two religious parties in exchange for their support in the budget vote.

The move enraged the secular-rights party Shinui, Sharon’s most loyal and largest coalition partner. Shinui leader Yosef Lapid said his party would vote against the budget, depriving Sharon of a parliamentary majority.

Sharon responded with a counter threat to fire any ministers who oppose the spending plan. In this event, Shinui would be forced out of the coalition, leaving Sharon with the support of only 40 MPs in the 120 seat parliament.

If the budget does not pass by March 31, Sharon’s government automatically falls and elections would have to be held within three months. Elections are currently scheduled for November 2006.

Lapid said Monday that Shinui would not be deterred from voting against the budget. “Sharon is cutting off the branch his government is sitting on, and if he does this then there will be elections in the very near future,” he said.