Israel's Labor Party ministers will resign from the coalition government even before the parliament votes Wednesday on four bills to dissolve the house, if the faction decides to support the bills at its own meeting, the local Ha'aretz daily said Monday.

According to the report, Labor Party's newly-elected chairman Amir Peretz has declared that his party will support the dissolution bills if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has not met with him by Wednesday to discuss an agreed date for early elections.

If a dissolution bill passed, the country would have to arrange an early election, he was quoted as saying.

However, Sharon has refused to meet with him before Thursday.

National Infrastructures Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a Labor member, said if Sharon and Peretz have not met by Wednesday, the chances are good that the Labor faction will back its leader and vote for dissolution.

In that case, the Labor ministers would submit their resignations before the vote rather than waiting for Sharon to fire them, he said.

Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz concurred, saying "we can't stay in the government if we vote for a bill to dissolve the Knesset, and therefore, before raising my hand in favor, I would submit a letter of resignation."

Two other Labor ministers declared that they would do the same.

But Peretz's demand that Sharon meet with him prior to Wednesday's vote also sparked criticism from several Labor ministers. As a result, Tuesday's faction meeting on whether to support the dissolution bills is likely to be tense.

Peretz, however, insisted that his ultimatum was necessary, because otherwise, Labor would not be able to make an intelligent decision on how to vote on Wednesday.

"Currently, some people are creating a fog of battle around me, and I don't intend to act like a marionette in it," he declared.

Peretz's associates also charged that by refusing to meet with their leader until Thursday, Sharon was engaging in political trickery aimed at preventing Labor from voting for dissolution on Wednesday.

But Sharon's aides denied that any trickery was involved, adding that they were stunned by Peretz's behavior.

Source: Xinhua