Rabbi Yosef: Shas will quit gov't if Jerusalem is on talks' agenda - Haaretz

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Thu., November 29, 2007 Kislev 19, 5768

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		Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. (Archives)

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Last update - 08:25 28/11/2007

Rabbi Yosef: Shas will quit gov't if Jerusalem is on talks' agenda

By Nadav Shragai and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents and Reuters

Tags: Shas, Ovadia Yosef, Annapolis

Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef said he will order the party to leave the governing coalition if the question of Jerusalem is raised in negotiations with the Palestinians.

Rabbi Yosef hosted a meeting of rabbis at his home during the weekend, including the rabbis of the Old City. Also at the meeting was Nahman Zoldan, whose son Ido Zoldan was murdered a week ago by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank.

The meeting was initiated by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, who is the founder and director of the Temple Institute. It also stemmed from the opinion raised by Rabbi Haim Cohen that Shas must immediately withdraw from the coalition because the current government threatens the unity of Jerusalem.

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Meanwhile, right-wing protesters are holding a vigil in front of the house of the Shas chairman - Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai. They are protesting the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party's continued presence in the government.

Yishai called the speeches made in Annapolis, including the one by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "dreams." He said Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas "is unable to govern and disarm the terrorists."

In a previous statement, Yishai said that Shas did not intend to withdraw from the government after the Annapolis declarations because he did not think the vision for the future there had a chance to be implemented.

"We must stop dreaming and burying our heads in the sand," he said. "At this time, this is a fantasy. It is not happening and it cannot happen. Whoever thinks that it is possible to end a conflict of hundreds of years in a single year is dreaming."

Head of the Meretz-Yahad party MK Yossi Beilin stated that as long as Yishai and rightist MK Avigdor Lieberman stay in the coalition, they will serve to hamper and complicate any future peace negotiations rendering it impossible to have faith in Olmert's actions.

Beilin added that the presence of the two rightist MKs in the coalition is especially problematic at a time when there is "a clear majority in the Knesset that supports peace."

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1.	Rav Ovadya	06:20	\|	Rabbi Yakov Lazaros	28/11/07

2.	Shas will quit gov`t if Jerusalem	07:09	\|	Robert Nickisson	28/11/07

3.	IF NOT FOR SHAS AND YOSEF, OLMERT WOULDN`T GO TO ANAPOLIS)))	08:02	\|	VOICE of MOSHIACH)))	28/11/07

4.	Start Packing	08:23	\|	Zev	28/11/07

5.	Maybe we can make Har Nof part of the deal?	09:17	\|	B`Galil	28/11/07

6.	SHAS COULD BE BOUGHT BY HAMAS	09:21	\|	B.Heddem	28/11/07

7.	Go home Ayatollah Yosef	09:41	\|	SJ	28/11/07

8.	It will be hard to hold on to Jerusalem w/o Golan, Judea & Shomro	09:58	\|	Lemmings Hotline	28/11/07

9.	Jerusalem	10:02	\|	Fahmi Natour	28/11/07

10.	Of course they wll ... unless offered MORE MONEY	10:27	\|	kobi	28/11/07

11.	to #9 Fahmi	10:30	\|	kobi	28/11/07

12.	Money talks nobody walks	10:43	\|	Beni	28/11/07

13.	So It Starts, now watch the language follw and then..?	11:18	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	28/11/07

14.	Mister Ovadia	11:58	\|	Andreas Hofer	28/11/07

15.	R. Yosef is oblivious to the shame he & Shas brings on itself...	15:39	\|	bat yam	28/11/07

16.	Bye, Shas...	23:34	\|	John	29/11/07

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