The Likud party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday ordered his Cabinet ministers to quit the Israeli government.
The ministers — including the Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom — will hand in their letters of resignation at Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu’s spokesperson, Ofir Akunis, said.
Netanyahu’s order came six weeks after the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, stunned the country by resigning as the leader of Likud following infighting over last year’s forced removal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.
Sharon set up a more centralist party, Kadima, which is campaigning in March’s elections on a platform of ending conflict with the Palestinians.
He is expected to appoint new Cabinet ministers from Kadima to replace the outgoing Likud members.
Israeli radio reported it was likely that the former prime minister Shimon Peres, who quit the Labour party in November, will be appointed as the foreign minister.
Netanyahu was elected to head Likud last month, and today’s move fulfils a campaign pledge to quit Sharon’s government.
Labour ministers have also resigned, leaving only seven other ministers in the cabinet, all of whom have defected to Kadima. Any new appointments could indicate the shape of a future Sharon government.
However, with less than three months to go before the March 28 elections, Sharon could also choose to take on the portfolios in the caretaker government himself. Opinion polls forecast a landslide Kadima victory.
Sharon, who suffered a minor stroke on December 18 and will be 78 next month, is expected to undergo surgery to correct a hole in the heart on Wednesday. – Guardian Unlimited Â