Israel’s regional cooperation minister Shimon Peres announced Saturday that he intends to accept the foreign affairs portfolio and not the defense minister's job in Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon's national-unity government, reported The Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Talks on forming a coalition made no progress over the weekend, said the paper, adding that Likud and Labor representatives failed to meet to discuss portfolios, citing the need for deliberations in Labor prior to deciding final demands."
Peres said he spoke to Sharon on Friday and told him he would reject his offer of the defense portfolio, because he believes that foreign affairs would be a more proactive position at this stage in relations between Israel and the Palestinians, said the paper.
"It is very difficult to separate the Defense portfolio from the foreign ministry portfolio, but the question is whether we want to be able to initiate, or whether we want to be able to react," Peres told Israel Radio.
"Between the two, I think that we [in Labor] have an interest in diplomatic initiatives, rather than defense reactions."
According to the Post, Peres's move is seen as blocking any move by Knesset Speaker, Avraham Burg, to the foreign ministry.
Meanwhile, interior minister, Haim Ramon, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the Labor party leadership on Monday, denied that he intended to harm the candidacy of Burg with interviews he gave over the weekend, said Haaretz newspaper.
"Avrum is a nice guy," Ramon was quoted as saying in an interview in Friday's Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
"He is good in a job like Knesset Speaker or president, but to be party leader, you have to be made of a different kind of material. You need to make decisions, withstand pressure. Even Burg himself thinks I am better than him at this."
Ramon said Burg would run for the job with no accomplishments, while he would run on the basis of achievements that have changed the face of society, the paper added.
"Burg and Ramon have been friends for years and nothing said over the weekend will change that," Ramon's spokeswoman said.
"[Ramon] merely said that Avrum is better at handling issues that unify the country as he does in the Knesset, while he is better at making unpopular decisions. He did not think he was attacking Burg at all." – Albawaba.com
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