Kadima-Labor talks fly, then falter

Labor's demand to raise state budget's framework by 2.5% stalls progress; Barak: We're far from deal.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Livni flirts 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
Livni flirts 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
The chances of new Kadima leader Tzipi Livni forming a coalition soon took a hit Thursday when talks broke down in a secret channel that had been formed between Livni and Labor chairman Ehud Barak. Sources in the two parties revealed Thursday that there were two secret tracks of coalition talks between Kadima and Labor. Officially, Livni and Labor chairman Ehud Barak met twice this week and two of their phone conversations were reported to the press. But sources close to the two revealed that there have been many more direct and personal conversations over the phone between Livni and Barak, who spoke nearly every day this week. In addition, they each appointed a representative on Sunday for more intense negotiations: former coalition chairman Efi Oshaya for Labor and former cabinet secretary Yisrael Maimon for Kadima. Both men reported directly to their party leader, and the talks were kept secret from the leaders' advisers and staff. A source close to the secret channel told The Jerusalem Post that since then, "significant progress" had been made in long hours of talks between Oshaya and Maimon, which took place at their offices, which are on the same street in Tel Aviv. The source said the advancement was clear and that the two sides were "going in the right direction," but he said he did not think a deal would be reached by the Rosh Hashana deadline that Livni's associates had set. However, the Oshaya-Maimon channel broke down Thursday night when Maimon refused Barak's demand to raise the framework of the state budget by 2.5 percent to boost the Defense Ministry's budget and hike benefits for pensioners, university students and immigrants. Maimon also turned down Barak's requests to head Israel's negotiating team with Syria and to stymie the reforms of Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann. A source close to the talks said that Livni toughened her stances on the issues after she saw the wide support for remaining in the coalition at Thursday's Labor faction meeting. Barak told Labor MKs at the meeting that the party was still "very far from joining the government" and that he was "not interested in a short-term government that would last only a few months or a collapsing coalition of 60 MKs." In thinly veiled criticism of Livni, Barak said that "work needed to be done to get the world to intensify sanctions on Iran," a task that has been Livni's responsibility as foreign minister for nearly three years. Barak talked tough at a toast for Kibbutz Movement leaders on Thursday night. "Either we get a real partnership that can last for two years or we will initiate elections," Barak said. "A real partnership means everything that there was in the national-unity governments of the 1980s except for a rotation at the Prime Minister's Office." Livni spent the day meeting with top economic officials, including Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer. In the meeting with Fischer, she vowed not to give in to Barak's demand to raise the framework of the state budget. No progress was reported following a meeting between Shas representatives David Glass and Yohanan Stessman, and Kadima's Maimon, Yoram Raved and Amir Goldstein. Most of the meeting was devoted to a lecture about the importance of raising child allotments by Stessman, a former National Insurance Institute director-general. The Kadima and Shas officials discussed creative ways to distribute additional funds to parents in the weakest sectors of the population without using the taboo words of child allotments. The Meretz faction decided Thursday to begin formal coalition talks. They said they would insist on Friedmann's firing, freezing settlement construction and passing the Evacuation-Compensation Bill offering West Bank settlers who live east of the security barrier to move within the Green Line. The MKs appointed a negotiating team of Meretz leader Haim Oron and MK Zehava Gal-On. No coalition negotiations were held on Thursday night with Meretz or any other party, because Kadima negotiator Yoram Raved attended the concert given by former Beatle Paul McCartney. "This is more important than coalition talks," Raved said from the show.