Political earthquake in Israel as defense minister, Labor chief bolts party

[Mallaba]

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak attends a news conference at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem January 17, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

JERUSALEM, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak announced Monday morning that he was quitting his lifelong political connection with the Labor Party, to create a new faction, to be called the "Independence Party."
"We are leaving a party and home that we love," Barak said during a press conference Monday morning.
"Today we're establishing a faction, a movement, and later a party which will be centrist, Zionist and democratic," he told reporters.
"The news came like a bolt of thunder on a clear day," several shocked Knesset parliament lawmakers told local media of Barak's decision.
Barak takes with him four other Labor Parliament members, leaving the party with eight Knesset members, which is still enough to keep Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition majority with 64 members.
However, hours after Barak's quit, three Labor ministers, Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog, Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman and Trade, Industry and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer announced their resignation from Netanyahu's government.
Herzog told reporters that he and another Labor figure Shally Yechimovitch will form a new Labor party. "The Labor Party ...got rid of a hump on its back. Barak's masquerade is over," he said, adding that "my friends and I are on a mission to stabilize the Labor Party."
The earthquake-change in the Labor comes in wake of an internal crisis in the party recently, as many Labor members have expressed their disappointment over the current government's policies on the peace process, and appealed the party of stepping out of Natenyahu 's ruling coalition.
Last Tuesday, Labor lawmaker Daniel Ben-Simon, a former journalist, struck a blow to the party by announcing his withdrawal with the stated aim of forming a one-man faction in the parliament, citing his disappointment with Labor and his failure to bring its members to leave the coalition.
Not mincing words, Ben-Simon said, "For some months now I do not see eye to eye with the faction and the coalition. I've lost hope. Since it was not possible to withdraw as a group, I decided to expedite this move."

 

[Mallaba]

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak arrives for a news conference at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem January 17, 2011. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Notably absent from the latest wave is Trade, Industry and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. As a staunch advocate of the peace process with the Palestinians, Ben-Eliezer in recent weeks announced that he personally would lead Labor out of the coalition in April unless the stymied process is resumed.
Local sources said that Ben-Eliezer is expected to announce his decision later on Monday

 

[Tuntu]

Hii ni habari njema kwa Netanyahu, sasa ataendesha mpango wake wa "amani" kwa nafasi bila ya kuhofia Labour kujitoa kwenye coalition.

 

[Mallaba]

je atakuwa na nguvu kweli bila kuogopa political crisis?

Hii ni habari njema kwa Netanyahu, sasa ataendesha mpango wake wa "amani" kwa nafasi bila ya kuhofia Labour kujitoa kwenye coalition.

 

[Tuntu]

je atakuwa na nguvu kweli bila kuogopa political crisis?

Atleast kwa sasa ameondokana na tishio la karibuni la wajumbe wote wa Labour kujitoa kwenye serikali kwani hii faction mpya yenye wajumbe watano wa knesset itaendelea kuwemo ndani ya coalition na hivyo kumpa uwingi wa kuendelea kuongoza serikali lakini hatujui kama wataamua vipi baadae kama mkwamo wa mchakato wa amani utaendelea kama inavyotarajiwa, na namna gani atakabiliana na changamoto za kufanya maamuzi/sera ambazo hazitaviudhi vyama-pinzani vilivyopo kwenye serikali yake.