Opposition to Israel’s new peace plan continues to simmer within the Likud bloc, with one Cabinet minister calling on the heads of the Likud-Labor coalition government to resign.
Yitzhak Moda’i, leader of Likud’s Liberal party wing and minister of economics and planning, made the suggestion Tuesday at a news conference in Tel Aviv.
He has been a leading opponent of the peace plan, which calls for Palestinian elections and eventual self-rule in the territories.
Moda’i insisted that Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Vice Premier Shimon Peres are “morally obliged” to step down and “seek a new mandate” from the public. The two are leaders of the Likud and Labor parties, respectively.
Moda’i denounced the proposed elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as “a surrender to the terror” of the Palestinian uprising. He claimed the plan deviates from the unity coalition’s guidelines, from Likud’s platform “and, as far as I know, from Labor’s platform too.”
Moda’i said the Likud Central Committee is expected to convene early next month, and he anticipates trouble for Shamir over the election plan.
If Shamir loses a Central Committee vote on the plan, he will have to seek new Knesset elections, Moda’i said.
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