Labor Minister Ami Ayalon said he will meet with the Shas party's spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Sunday in order to present to him arguments favoring dividing Jerusalem. Several nationalist leaders previously met with the rabbi in an effort to make sure that Shas would back up its commitments not to remain part of the government coalition if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert cedes parts of the capital to a proposed new Arab state.
Ayalon is one of the most extreme leftist Labor party leaders and was narrowly defeated by Defense Minister Ehud Barak earlier this year in the party leadership primaries.