Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has completed his Cabinet reshuffle, made necessary by the resignation last month of Industry and Trade Minister Ariel Sharon.
Sharon, who quit Feb. 19 because he opposed Shamir’s peace diplomacy, has been replaced by Moshe Nissim of Likud’s Liberal Party faction, who previously held no portfolio in the Cabinet.
Knesset member David Magen of Likud’s Herut wing has taken Nissim’s place as one of four Cabinet ministers without portfolio.
Transport Minister Moshe Katsav has been given Sharon’s scat in the 12-member Inner Cabinet, the government’s top policy-making body.
The changes, approved Wednesday in a telephone poll of ministers by the Prime Minister’s Office and later by the Knesset, also resolved a nagging dispute between Likud and Labor over the labor and social affairs portfolio.
While Shamir technically has held the portfolio himself since the government was formed, Moshe Ze’ev Feldman of Agudat Yisrael assumed the duties as deputy minister until he resigned six months ago.
The post now goes to Ronni Milo of Likud’s Herut wing, who was previously minister for environmental protection. Laborite Rafi Edri, who had no portfolio, will replace Milo.
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