Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced plans Sunday to speed up the privatization of the national airline El Al, but gave no timetable for the sell-off.
Barak has called for the airline to be fully privatized and, more controversially, for it to be allowed to fly on the Sabbath, the Jewish holy day of rest that runs from sundown on Friday to sundown Saturday.
"Prime Minister Ehud Barak today, following a preliminary discussion with Finance Minister Avraham Shohat and Transport Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, has directed that the privatization process for El Al be accelerated in keeping with the current governments policy of privatizing government companies," his office said in a statement.
The plans form part of sweeping civil reforms announced last month by Barak, who has been without a parliamentary majority since a mass defection in July by right-wing and religious parties over his peace policies.
El Al estimates the Sabbath ban, which was introduced by the government in 1982, costs it about $30 to $40 million a year.
El Al president Yoel Feldschuh in August tendered his resignation after four years in the post, complaining at the government's failure to privatise the airline, and is due to step down at the end of October.
No timetable has been fixed for the privatisation.
The statement from Barak's office said he plans to hold discussions about Sabbath flights with Israel's Minister of Diaspora Affairs Michel Melchior "in the hope of dealing with this point with sensitivity," it added.
Melchior has threatened to pull his Meimad party out of the Labour-led government over Barak's proposals to allow El Al and public transport to run on the Sabbath.
According to latest financial results published earlier this month, El Al recorded a second-quarter profit of $5.7 million compared with a loss of $2.6 million the same period a year earlier. – (AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
