The Hindu : International : Sharon declared incapacitated

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Wednesday, Apr 12, 2006

International

International

Sharon declared incapacitated

Atul Aneja

Israeli Cabinet announces Ehud Olmert will be interim Prime Minister

DUBAI: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's five-year tenure has formally ended with the Cabinet declaring that he has been permanently incapacitated.

The Cabinet announced that Ehud Olmert would assume the charge of interim Prime Minister from Friday, exactly 100 days after Mr. Sharon suffered a massive cerebral stroke. Under Israel's succession law, an interim Prime Minster has to be appointed within 100 days of the incapacitation of a Premier.

Israel's Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon said, "The suggestion laid forth today [Tuesday] is to appoint the head of the Kadima party, the acting Prime Minister [Mr.] Ehud Olmert, as the Prime Minister in practice." This was the first occasion when the Israeli law of succession has been invoked to replace an incapacitated Premier. The Kadima party, formed by Mr. Sharon prior to his illness, has won 29 of the 120 seats in the recent Israeli parliamentary elections.

Soon after winning elections, Kadima, under Mr. Olmert's stewardship, began efforts to form a coalition government by involving other parties. Kadima hopes to cobble together an alliance comprising at least 61 lawmakers, including its own 29 members.

Controversial decisions

It has also apparently taken two controversial decisions. It is set on settling Israel's permanent borders with the Palestinian territories, even if it demands taking unilateral action. Besides, it has signalled that it intends to isolate the Islamist militant group Hamas, which has won the Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Kadima has initiated talks with the Centre-Left Labour party, which won 19 seats. The Labour party leader, Amir Peretz, has pledged support for Kadima, but has expressed reservations about imposing unilaterally defined borders on the Palestinians. The Israeli daily, Yediot Ahronot, has reported that Kadima was keen to arrive at a final border settlement by 2008 during the tenure of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Kadima will also begin talks with Likud party and the ultra-Orthodox Shas, which have 12 lawmakers each, despite its opposition to Mr. Olmert's unilateral withdrawal plan.

The Pensioners Party, which won seven seats at the election and the Left-wing Meretz, which has five MPs, are other possible partners in the coalition.

Meanwhile, Israel has declared the Hamas-led Palestinian Government a "hostile entity". Israel, the U.S. and the European Union are imposing a financial boycott on the Palestinian Government.

There has been an escalation of violence, with Israeli artillery pounding sites in northern Gaza, where Palestinian groups have allegedly launched rocket attacks.

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