Ex-Foreign Minister Quits Parliament
Former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami quit the Israeli parliament, saying his Labor Party had betrayed its principles by joining a coalition headed by right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Ben-Ami has been scathing about Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s leadership but also has condemned Sharon’s military reoccupation of Palestinian towns.
Ben-Ami, 59, said in a resignation letter that the Labor Party was “an atrophied tail at the service of the prime minister’s personal interests.”
“I don’t think this is the time for a military response” to the Palestinian uprising, he said.
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