Opposition on Right, Left eager for summer session

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
Opposition members - both Right and Left - are eagerly anticipating a session dominated by political uncertainty and a weak coalition that could enable opposition-sponsored legislation to slip through the approval process. "This session is opening in a completely different situation than the previous one," Sa'ar said. "The last session began with 78 votes for the coalition, while this one will begin with only 64 - and even that count is not stable." Under such circumstances, Sa'ar said, the government would be hard-pressed to carry out any legislation, be it diplomatic or economic. "In addition," he said, "the government's ability to stop processes initiated by the opposition or by independent MKs is reduced." Orlev said his party would work to further a number of bills already under discussion since the previous session. Among them, he said, would be the so-called "Bishara Law," set to be discussed in the House Committee on the opening day of the session, as well as the Jerusalem Law to anchor the centrality of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people - a blocking maneuver against negotiations by the coalition to partition the city. On the Left, Meretz was gearing up to push through some of its own legislation during a session that party chairman Haim Oron described as "a period in which the central quality is uncertainty." He said his party would use the time to forward proposals concerning the elections law and the quality of health care. In addition, Oron hoped to start the wheels rolling as early as this week on private legislation to establish a Social-Economic Council.