Budget Feud Threatens Israeli Ruling Party

THE Israeli government is expected to present its 1992 budget for a crucial parliamentary vote this week. The vote risks the collapse of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's fragile ruling coalition just as Israel is expected to start bilateral peace talks in Washington.The budget has been stymied for more than a month because of a funding dispute among religious members of the coalition with both orthodox and ultra-orthodox parties warning they will not support the bill unless their demands are met. A budget vote in the Knesset (parliament) is considered tantamount to a vote of confidence in the government. The tussle has again revealed the disproportionate power that small parties can wield in Israel's coalition system of government to ensure their interests are met. The Knesset must approve a budget by the end of the year. At the same time, the battle for public monies to fund religious schools and individual Knesset members' pet projects is increasingly costing religious parties the respect of secular Israelis. The "special allocations" of government money to religious schools, clubs, benevolent associations, and other bodies "has caused terrible harm to religious Jewry," complains Avner Shaki, the Minister for Religious Affairs. His orthodox National Religious Party (NRP) has led the fight - against angry opposition from ultra-orthodox haredi parties - to reform the system.

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