Aide: Israel Ex-Army Chief OKs Post

31/10/2002| IslamWeb

Former occupation army chief Shaul Mofaz, who led the Israeli occupation army during much of its crackdown on Palestinians in the past two years of violence, has agreed to become the next defense minister, an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday.

The post became vacant after the Labor Party left the government Wednesday and all six Labor ministers, including party leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who held the defense portfolio, submitted their resignations.

Asked whether Sharon asked Mofaz to be defense minister and whether Mofaz had accepted, Sharon aide Arnon Perlman said: "Yes."

Mofaz held his chief of staff post from 1998 until last July and led the occupation army as it launched a heavy crackdown on the Palestinians, including the re-occupation of most main towns in the West Bank in response to resistance man attacks against Israelis. He advocated the expulsion of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat - accused by Israel of not stopping attacks - a step opposed by the outgoing defense minister, Ben-Eliezer.

Perlman said he was not sure when Mofaz's appointment would be brought for parliamentary approval. The newspaper Yediot Ahronot said that would take place Monday.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli Cabinet ministers including Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, center left, and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, center, participate in a Knesset, Israel's parliament, session in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2002 before the vote on the 2003 draft budget in a first reading. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's broad-based coalition crumbled Wednesday as Cabinet ministers from the moderate Labor Party resigned, ending a partnership which for 20 months had united Israel's bitter political rivals in a common front against the Palestinian uprising. (AP Photo/ Eitan Hess-Ashkenaz