Policy changes
At its first Cabinet meeting on Sunday the new Netanyahu Government decided on changes in three significant areas. In the economic area their first initiative is to change the law so that a budget need not be presented every year but every two years and the time required to prepare the budget has been doubled. This change is supposed to prevent the almost continuous squabbling between Ministers over their budgets, and the mad scramble to prepare the budget in too short a time. Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz explained that the change which he presented on Monday in the Knesset is intended to add to Governmental stability.
In similar vein, electoral reform is being proposed, including raising the minimum threshold for a party to be represented in the Knesset. At present it is 2% of the total votes, but there are proposals to raise this to 3-5%, and in this way reduce the number of small parties that tie up the Knesset with threats and demands (there are 12 parties in the current Knesset). Also, the requirements for a vote of non-confidence in the Government have been raised, the Opposition must have the ability to form a new Government before they call for a vote of no confidence. And for any budget requisition over 10 million shekels there must be a majority of 80%. These changes are also intended to improve Government stability.
In the security area, there is going to be a "policy review" of all previous negotiations and agreements. This will include the Road Map and the Annapolis agreements, that were introduced by the Bush Administration. In some respects the two are inconsistent, for example the Road Map requires the PA to stop terrorism and violence before further steps, while in Annapolis this order was reversed. It represents once again a lack of patience by the US and a tendency to give in to the intransigence of the Palestinians in order to get some/any results. This always tends to be against Israeli interests. According to the Jerusalem Post today (Monday) the following items will be considered:
1. What international agreements is Israel actually obligated to?
2. How can the Government work to end the Israel-Palestine conflict?
3, Efforts to bring about peace must not depend entirely on Israeli concessions, since experience has shown that these have not produced reciprocal responses from the other side.
4. There is a need to build strong Palestinian civil institutions and an economy.
5. The Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish State.
6. The international community should withhold comment and criticism until the policy review is complete and should judge the Government by its actions and not by newspaper headlines.
In line with this review, PM Netanyahu has avoided commenting on FM Lieberman's statements about the Annapolis agreement. Meanwhile, Pres. Obama has endorsed the Annapolis agreement, which is strange since it was a Bush Administration initiative to wring something out of the Middle East peace process before leaving office. It would be a supreme irony if, while Pres. Obama was trying to engage Iran and Syria, he was at the same time pressuring America's one true ally in the Middle East to make concessions.
One of the most positive things that Netanyahu has done is to cancel Olmert's plans for building a new PM's Office that would have cost millions of shekels.
In similar vein, electoral reform is being proposed, including raising the minimum threshold for a party to be represented in the Knesset. At present it is 2% of the total votes, but there are proposals to raise this to 3-5%, and in this way reduce the number of small parties that tie up the Knesset with threats and demands (there are 12 parties in the current Knesset). Also, the requirements for a vote of non-confidence in the Government have been raised, the Opposition must have the ability to form a new Government before they call for a vote of no confidence. And for any budget requisition over 10 million shekels there must be a majority of 80%. These changes are also intended to improve Government stability.
In the security area, there is going to be a "policy review" of all previous negotiations and agreements. This will include the Road Map and the Annapolis agreements, that were introduced by the Bush Administration. In some respects the two are inconsistent, for example the Road Map requires the PA to stop terrorism and violence before further steps, while in Annapolis this order was reversed. It represents once again a lack of patience by the US and a tendency to give in to the intransigence of the Palestinians in order to get some/any results. This always tends to be against Israeli interests. According to the Jerusalem Post today (Monday) the following items will be considered:
1. What international agreements is Israel actually obligated to?
2. How can the Government work to end the Israel-Palestine conflict?
3, Efforts to bring about peace must not depend entirely on Israeli concessions, since experience has shown that these have not produced reciprocal responses from the other side.
4. There is a need to build strong Palestinian civil institutions and an economy.
5. The Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish State.
6. The international community should withhold comment and criticism until the policy review is complete and should judge the Government by its actions and not by newspaper headlines.
In line with this review, PM Netanyahu has avoided commenting on FM Lieberman's statements about the Annapolis agreement. Meanwhile, Pres. Obama has endorsed the Annapolis agreement, which is strange since it was a Bush Administration initiative to wring something out of the Middle East peace process before leaving office. It would be a supreme irony if, while Pres. Obama was trying to engage Iran and Syria, he was at the same time pressuring America's one true ally in the Middle East to make concessions.
One of the most positive things that Netanyahu has done is to cancel Olmert's plans for building a new PM's Office that would have cost millions of shekels.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:57 AM
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