Deri Leaves Rabin Government, but Party May Back Peace Plan

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has formalized his resignation from the Israeli Cabinet, but government leaders are still hoping to win the support of his Shas party for the peace accords reached with the Palestinians.

Deri, who is the fervently Orthodox party’s top official, made his resignation official at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting. He had announced it last week in the wake of a ruling from the High Court of Justice requiring him to step down in the face of charges of financial misconduct that had been brought against him.

After Deri announced his resignation, other officials of the party said Shas would quit the government, a move that would leave the other two coalition partners, Labor and Meretz, without an absolute majority in the 120-member Knesset.

But they did not say whether the party would also withdraw its support for a historic agreement that would implement Palestinian self-rule first in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said at the Cabinet meeting that he hoped and believed Shas’ position on the historic peace agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization would not be clouded by its bitter feelings over the personal problems affecting several of its leaders.

Rabin was referring to Deri and to Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Raphael Pinhasi, who is also to leave the government, in the face of similar charges of financial misconduct.

Deri’s resignation plainly increases Rabin’s concern over the size of his majority when the Knesset votes on the peace agreement with the PLO next week.

Shas’ two other deputy ministers, Aryeh Gamliel and Yosef Azran, have also resolved to resign in the wake of the High Court’s rulings against Deri and Pinhasi.

But the party as such has not yet officially seceded from the coalition government.

RABIN, OTHER MINISTERS PRAISE DERI’S WORK

Deri told reporters outside the Cabinet room that he was convinced Shas’ spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, would reach his decision on how Shas would vote on the peace package purely on the basis of his talks with Rabin and with military leaders.

Coalition whips believe that in a worst-case scenario, Shas will abstain, leaving Rabin with a solid majority in the crucial Knesset vote.

At best, coalition whips hope, Shas will give its loyal backing to the agreement, and four Knesset members of the fervently Orthodox United Torah Judaism bloc will also support it.

In comments to reporters, Deri spoke acidly of a weekend report that Attorney General Yosef Harish, who reaches the age of 70 this week, has told the government he will quit his post only after Nov. 1, in order to complete the process of stripping Deri of his parliamentary immunity.

Harish has long maintained that both Deri and Pinhasi, who could not be indicted because they had the protection of parliamentary immunity, should voluntarily step down.

Rabin and Justice Minister David Libai have reportedly agreed on Harish’s successor, Tel Aviv District Court Judge Michael Ben-Yair.

Ben-Yair’s candidacy is understood to be supported by Shas, which hopes a new attorney general might order a re-examination of the case.

Rabin and several other ministers praised Deri during the Cabinet meeting, speaking warmly of his work at his ministry and of his contributions to Cabinet debates.

Deri, in his mid-30s, has been interior minister for more than six years. He was previously director-general of the ministry Interior Minister Yitzhak Peretz, also of Shas.

Ministry sources say Deri catapulted the ministry from the Middle Ages into the 21st century, computerizing its work and streamlining its departments. Its service to the public, notoriously slow and impolite before Deri’s time, has become a model of speed and efficiency.