The five-member Center Party faction will tonight sign a coalition agreement, formally joining Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's national unity government. Center Party Chairman Dan Meridor will serve as a minister without portfolio and will be a member of both the security and "kitchen" cabinets. Faction chairman Roni Milo will serve as Minister of Regional Cooperation, as Sharon's government sets a new Israeli record -- 28 ministers.

Yesterday the Center Party Knesset faction voted unanimously to accept Sharon's offer and join the government. Meridor, who had long opposed the move, will have responsibility for the Mossad, the Shin Bet security service, the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Security Council. According to media reports, the coalition agreement will guarantee Meridor's appointment to a senior ministerial position if one of the other coalition partners would leave the government. The promise, which was a clear reference to positions held by Labor Party members and could serve as a deterrent to Labor's potential exit from the government, was considered not to have legal standing.

Party member David Magen will take on Meridor's previous position as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The dropping of a last minute demand by Nehama Ronen to chair a specially created Knesset Environment Committee helped clear the way for the unanimous faction decision. "I didn't want to be the obstacle to the Center Party entering the government, but I still think it is shameful for the government to spend such money when factories are closing," she said. Ronen also turned down the possibility that she would serve as Deputy Minister of the Environment.

Meridor rejected charges that his entering the government was intended to block the return of former Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. The Jerusalem Post reported last week that officials from Netanyahu's office said Sharon's efforts to bring Meridor and Milo into the government were intended to block Netanyahu from regaining leadership of the Likud. "They won't succeed in keeping the government together," the unnamed official told the Post, who said that Likud voters would never forgive Meridor for supporting former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's diplomatic efforts at Camp David. Sharon denied reserving slots for Meridor and Milo on the next Likud party ticket.

"I think it's important to expand the national-unity government," Sharon said after his meeting with Meridor last week. "I asked the National Religious Party to join as well. I think our power is in our unity." The National Religious Party opted not to join the government at this time.

The evaporating Center Party
Two and a half years after its creation, and after four of its original founders considered themselves worthy candidates to serve as Israel's Prime Minister, the Center Party is today barely in existence. The party is burdened with a huge financial debt, is still stinging from the conviction of former chairman Yitzhak Mordechai on sexual harassment charges, and according to the latest polls will probably not exist after the next elections. Former party members Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and Uri Savir left the Knesset and retired from politics. Dalia Rabin-Pelossof joined the ranks of the Labor Party and became Deputy Defense Minister.

Most of the Center Party's Knesset members and supporters were formerly associated with the Likud. The faction's move to join the government will probably enable Meridor, Milo, Magen and others to return to their political roots if the Center Party collapses. Party member Yehiel Lasri will reportedly become the Likud's candidate for Ashdod mayor in the next elections. Ronen is the exception to the rule, as she was formerly a member of the now-defunct Tzomet party. Ronen is unsure of her political future.

Opposition leader Yossi Sarid (Meretz) sharply criticized the Center Party's joining the government. "A party that has all but evaporated and doesn't exist is demanding four positions for its five members, including two ministers," Sarid charged. Sarid said the party should be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having a record amount of chutzpah with its political demands.

Maariv reported yesterday that the addition of two new ministers to the government would cost Israeli taxpayers 10 million shekels (approximately $2.5 million) a year. As levels of unemployment in Israel reach record highs, many employers felt that the additional government expenditure could be better spent saving some of the country's floundering factories. "With the money spent on Milo and Meridor I could save Polgat," said Shmuel Avital (One People), Minister without portfolio in charge of social affairs, in reference to the struggling clothing manufacturer.

Knesset Member Yossi Katz (Labor) plans to propose legislation that would limit the number of ministers in Israel's government to 18. The previous law limiting the number of government ministers was cancelled at the request of Barak when he formed his cabinet of 24 ministers in 1999. At the time, Likud party leaders strongly criticized the decision. Now, with the addition of the Center Party and its two new ministers, Sharon has passed Barak's record for the largest Israeli government ever.

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