Word: shas
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...both sides to secure an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before President Clinton leaves office, it may actually suit Ehud Barak to be seen as on the ropes for a while longer. Barak's government faces collapse on Thursday, when the resignations of four cabinet members from the ultra-religious Shas party take effect. But the religious party, which mainly represents orthodox Jews who emigrated to Israel from the Arab world, isn't balking at the peace process; it simply wants more money funneled into its school system, no government oversight of that system and broadcasting rights for five pirate radio...
...added the crucial votes that passed a bill requiring early elections. Although an early poll would almost certainly shut down the peace process for the year, the dispute was unrelated to any concessions Barak may be planning to make to the Palestinians or to Syria. The ultra-orthodox Shas party, the second largest in the ruling coalition, broke ranks after Barak turned down its funding demands for the religious school system the party oversees. Although Shas voted with some conservative parties opposed to Barak's peace proposals, the bill has to pass two further readings before becoming...
...umpiring in the U.S., a parliamentary vote casting Barak as a beleaguered dove certainly reminds both Arafat and President Clinton that his room for maneuver, too, is limited by his constituency - even if it's really no more than a storm in a pork barrel (after all, to get Shas back on board Barak simply has to cut a few checks). The more fundamental obstacle to concluding a final agreement remains the gulf between Israeli and Palestinian expectations of the shape of their peace...
...necessary target more like 65 percent of the actual turnout. But the bill, which is still in its early stages, is not the real problem, says TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer. "That is easily fixed," says Beyer. "The reason Barak lost so badly was primarily because the Shas party, one of his most important coalition partners, voted against him as a protest on an entirely unrelated issue - its demand for a greater say in the running of the education department. All he has to do to fix that is make some concessions on that front...
...Natan Sharansky, leader of the largest Russian party, B'Aliya Israel, and a key member of Netanyahu's cabinet, has campaigned aggressively against "religious coercion," channeling Russian rage against the Interior Ministry run by Shas -- an ultra-orthodox party, mostly consisting of Moroccan Jews, that is Netanyahu's key coalition partner. "The ministry has infuriated many Russians by challenging their claim to be Jewish," says Beyer. "Many Russian immigrants don't have 100 percent Jewish ancestry, and that causes them many problems in Israel in areas such as marriage and burial, even impinging on their right to bring over their...