Israel's Opposition Discusses Joining Emergency GovernmentLeaders of Israel's opposition parties met in Tel Aviv on Thursday and decided not to dismiss the possibility of the joining a national emergency government with Prime Minister Ehud Barak.Opposition Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon, who called the meeting to discuss whether opposition parties are ready to join such a government, said after the meeting that the opposition parties will not join such a government right now, but the party leaders did not rule out such a possibility of forming such a government with Ehud Barak at a later date, local media reported. Sharon is due to meet with Barak to inform him about the decision reached by the opposition party leaders. Sharon told reporters before the meeting that he does not rule out the possibility of forming an emergency government with Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Sharon said if Barak forgets all the commitments on the peace process he made during the Camp David summit, there will be problem for Likud to join such an emergency government in the days to come. National Religious Party leader Yitzhak Levy, also said that if Barak does not continue peace talks with the Palestinians, his party will return to the government to help it deal with the security challenges. 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 Barak's failure to obtain an explicit Palestinian commitment to rearrest activists of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, and disarm the Tanzim, Fatah's militias led by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. 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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