JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon abruptly fired four of his Cabinet members from the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party Monday night after they helped to narrowly defeat the government's own emergency economic plan in the Israeli parliament.
A political storm that threatened to shake the foundations of Sharon's broad-based government erupted when Shas, Israel's third-largest party, voted against the plan to slash about $2.7 billion from the budget, saying it would hurt the poor. The measure was defeated by three votes.
It was the second serious political setback for Sharon in less than 10 days. On May 12, his Likud Party's Central Committee adopted a resolution ruling out establishment of a Palestinian state, in direct contradiction to Sharon's stated support for eventual Palestinian independence.
The events underscore the gap between Sharon's popularity with the general public, which sees him as a powerful leader, and his weakening position in his own party and with the fractious parliament.
"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this evening ordered the immediate dismissal of four Shas ministers ... following this evening's Knesset vote against the government's economic program," Sharon's office said in a terse statement. Sharon also dismissed the deputy ministers of United Torah Judaism, another ultra-Orthodox party in his Cabinet, after they, too, voted against the economic plan.
"I'd rather stand with the poor and not in the government," said Interior Minister Eli Yishai, the leader of Shas. "If they fire me because I fight for those who haven't anything to eat--that is my reward.... The economic situation is difficult. I advise the prime minister to begin negotiating with his allies."
Without the support of Shas, Sharon would maintain only 60 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament, one short of a majority. But by this morning Sharon reportedly was close to reaching a compromise with the party that would allow the members to remain in the government. But even if the crisis is resolved, political analysts said, Shas' defection, and Sharon's sacking of its ministers, could signal the beginning of the end for the government, a partnership of his nationalistic Likud Party, the ultra-Orthodox, the center-left Labor Party and some small, far-right parties.
