PM faces ultimatum from Labor ministers
By GIL HOFFMAN
14/03/2010 03:21
September deadline for "significant breakthrough" with Palestinians or Syria.

The Labor Party will leave Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition if serious diplomatic progress is not made by the time the 10-month West Bank construction moratorium ends in September, Labor ministers warned over the weekend. The ministers expressed concern over the failure to ignite talks with the Palestinians due to the crisis over plans to build 1,600 housing units in Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood. They are especially worried that if Netanyahu restarted West Bank building, they would not be able to justify staying in the coalition to their constituents.

“I estimate that if by the end of September no significant breakthrough has been reached on the Palestinian or the Syrian track, Labor would have to reconsider its place in the government,” Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night, confirming statements he was reported to have made in recent closed-door Labor forums. In addition to the lack of diplomatic progress, Labor ministers have complained about the recent cabinet decision to place the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem on a list of national heritage sites to be renovated. They were also upset about plans to pass another two-year state budget, and that they were not consulted regarding a crisis over a conversion bill.

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