The coalition agreement between Premier Menachem Begin and the three religious parties — the National Religious Party, Aguda Israel and Tami — was signed tonight in a brief ceremony and a round of “lehaims.” The last session of the outgoing Cabinet will take place tomorrow at 9 am. The first session of the new Cabinet will take place a half hour later. The presentation of the new government to the Knesset will take place at 10 am., followed by eight hours of debate.
The following is the list of Ministers in the new Cabinet:
Menachem Begin — Premier
Yitzhak Shamir — Foreign Minister
Ariel Sharon — Defense Minister
Yoram Aridor — Finance Minister
Yaacov Meridor — Economic Coordinator
David Levy — Housing Minister (with responsibility for Project Renewal).
Haim Corfu — Transport Minister
Mordechai Zipori — Communications Minister
These eight ministers are all members of Herut.
Eliezer Shostak — Health Minister
Shostak is a member of the La’am wing of Likud.
Simcha Ehrlich — Deputy Premier and Agriculture Minister
Gideon Part — Commerce and Industry Minister
Yitzhak Modai — Minister-without-portfolio
Avrahm Sharir — Tourism Minister (The Ministry of Tourism will be separated from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
Moshe Nissim — Justice Minister
Yitzhak Berman — Energy Minister
These six ministers are all members of the Liberal Party.
Yosef Burg — Interior, Religious Affairs and Police Minister (with continuing involvement in the autonomy talks)
Zevulun Hammer — Education Minister
Both ministers are members of the National Religious Party.
Aharon Abu Hatzeira — Labor and Social Welfare (which is now one Ministry) and Absorption.
Hatzeira is the leader of Tami.
There are 18 Ministers in the Cabinet. Aguda Israel has no ministerial portfolio but holds key Knesset committee chairmanships. In addition, there are also Deputy Ministerships:
Pessach Grupper (Liberal Party) and Michael Dekel (Herut) — Agriculture
Miriam Glazer-Tassa (Herut) — Education
Moshe Katzav (Herut) — Housing
Haim Druckman (NRP) Religious Affairs
Aharon Uzzan (Tami) — Absorption
Bension Rubin (Tami) — Labor and Social Welfare
Haim Kaufman (Herut) — Finance
Yehuda Ben-Meir (NRP) — Foreign Ministry
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