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Sharon Not Rule Out Joining Emergency Government
Israeli opposition Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon said Thursday that he does not rule out the possibility of forming an emergency government with Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Talking to reporters before meeting with opposition party leaders, Sharon said if Barak abolishes the commitments on the peace process he made during the Camp David summit, there will be possibility for Likud to join such an emergency government in the days to come.
Sharon called the opposition party leaders to the meeting to discuss the political situation in the country and whether they would join the emergency government as asked for by Barak.
National Religious Party leader Yitzhak Levy also said that if Barak stops the peace talks with the Palestinians, his party will return to the government to help it deal with the security challenges.
Ultra-orthodox Shas party leader Eli Yishai did not attend the meeting, but sent other party representatives instead.
Sharon broke off talks with Barak on forming such a government Tuesday evening, saying the Sharm el Sheikh deal reached on Tuesday has made the Likud impossible to join such a coalition.
He blamed Barak for agreeing on an international fact-finding committee to investigate the violence and for Barak's failure to obtain an explicit Palestinian commitment to rearrest activists of the Islamic militant Hamas group and disarm the Tanzim, a newly-found militia wing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
Barak held separate talks Wednesday with party leaders of Meretz and Shas to discuss the possibility of forming a new coalition government with them.
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