Shas Party to Stay in Barak's GovernmentIsrael's powerful Orthodox Jewish Shas party decided Thursday to stay in Prime Minister Ehud Barak's goverment, saving his parliamentary majority, party official Raphael Pinhasi said in Jerusalem."The Council of Torah Sages instructs the Shas ministers to withdraw their resignation letters," Pinhasi, secretary general of Shas's spiritual leadership body, told Israeli public radio after a two hour meeting of the council. "The Council will convene within a reasonable period of time to receive a report on the progress on the implementation of the understandings and agreements (with Barak's One Israel bloc) and then we will decide on how to proceed," he added. Pinhasi said he was on his way to the prime minister's office to hand in letters cancelling the resignations four Shas ministers submitted Tuesday. The Shas decision came only shortly before the resignations were due to take effect at the end of a 48-hour notice period. |
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