THE incoming Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyaho, put the finishing touches yesterday to one of the most right wing cabinets in the history of the Israeli state. His government programme was toughened even more to accommodate religious allies.
Mr Netanyahu will present his cabinet at Monday's opening session of the 120 seat Knesset after two weeks of bargaining. The new government will champion the biblical concept of "Greater Israel", while still pledging to pursue the peace process with its Arab neighbours.
Two veteran hardliners, former defence minister Mr Ariel Sharon and ex army chief Mr Rafael Eytan, are assured of prominent cabinet posts.
Mr Sharon and Mr Eytan masterminded Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and were severely criticised by a state commission of inquiry for their "indirect responsibility" for the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Israel's South Lebanon Army (SLA) allies in September of that year.
The pair have called for greater scope for Israeli army intervention in Lebanon, where the Jewish state occupies a border "security zone."
Israeli newspapers reported Mr Sharon will be given the finance portfolio, while Mr Eytan, leader of the far right Tsomet party, was tipped for the internal security ministry.
Four children were killed and one was wounded when an explosive device went off in a village in Israeli occupied south Lebanon yesterday, SLA sources said.
Michael Jansen adds:
The head of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights, Dr Eyad Sarraj, has been detained on a 15 day remand order. On Thursday he appeared before a military tribunal on a charge of assaulting a policeman while in prison the Palestinian Authority's response to charges that Dr Sarraj had been tortured.
The charge of assaulting a policeman was brought by the authority's attorney general alter the magistrates' court had indicated it would release Dr Sarraj, detained on Sunday on a charge of possessing "illegal substances", on bail.
The commission called yesterday for his unconditional release on the ground that he was being held for exercising his right to "freedom of expression." A high ranking PLO official said Dr Sarraj has been detained because of an "insulting letter" he wrote to the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat.