Israeli Interior Minister Writes off Israeli Government

Published June 25th, 2000 - 03:00 GMT

Israel's right-wing interior minister, Nathan Sharansky, wrote off the beleaguered government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak Sunday, calling for a national unity government with the opposition.

"The present government is more or less at the end of the road," Sharansky said on public radio, prompting another minister, senior Barak aide Haim Ramon, to retort that he should resign.

Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident who heads the Israel B'Aliya party of Russian immigrants, referred notably to disagreements on an eventual peace deal with the Palestinians due to be concluded in September – OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)