News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) "There is no danger to the coalition's unity," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters in the Knesset cafeteria Wednesday afternoon. According to NRG, Olmert exuded optimism following a meeting with Shas party chief and Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai.

"Shas has no reason to leave the coalition and Eli Yishai will be Deputy Prime Minister for a long time yet," Olmert said. "It is clear to all sides in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that the subject of Jerusalem will be the last one on the agenda," he added.

Sources in Shas said that Olmert met Yishai immediately upon his return from Germany in order to clarify his recent statements regarding a freeze on construction in "the settlements," as Jewish comunities in Judea and Samaria are often referred to. Olmert reportedly assured Yishai that the freeze will not apply to Jerusalem. He also promised there will be no building freeze in the hareidi-religious neighborhoods in Beitar Illit, Elad and Modi'in, but said that this matter still had to be discussed.