The Shas party's spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef promised other leading rabbis
The rabbis said that the Israeli attendance at the Annapolis Summit was sufficient justification.
Monday night that he would instruct the Shas party to quit the coalition if the government decides to re-divide the capital.

A delegation of rabbis met with Rabbi Yosef at his Jerusalem home in an effort to persuade him to order Shas to quit the government immediately. The rabbis said that the Israeli attendance at the Annapolis Summit was sufficient justification for the political move, in light of the Israeli concessions already expected.

In response to their entreaty, Rabbi Yosef told the rabbis, "If there will be a decision to divide Jerusalem, then I will instruct Shas to withdraw from the coalition."

Among the rabbis in attendance at the meeting were the Chief Rabbi of the Old City, Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, Rehovot Chief Rabbi Simcha HaCohen Kook, and Rabbi Yisrael Ariel of the Temple Institute. Their meeting came one day after Vice Prime Minister Chaim Ramon said that Rabbi Yosef was "considering" Ramon's proposal, which would cede most of eastern Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Earlier Monday, Rabbi Yosef met with Rabbi Hillel Horowitz, Director General of the organization representing the Jewish community of Hevron, and with Nachman Zoldan, whose son Ido was murdered by PA terrorists one week ago. Ido, a father of two young children, was shot to death in a drive-by shooting on his way to his Shavei Shomron home, 20o miles east of Herzliya. Rabbi Horowitz and Zoldan met with Rabbi Yosef to express their views on the Annapolis Summit, as well as issues surrounding the murder of Ido.

Rabbis of Agudath Yisrael of America Issue Jerusalem Statement
In a resolution adopted at its 85th National Convention on Sunday, in Stamford,
Agudath Yisrael of America Israel declared that Israel "should not relinquish parts of Jerusalem...."
Connecticut, Agudath Yisrael of America Israel declared that Israel "should not relinquish parts of Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty, and the American government should not pressure the Israeli government into doing so."

According to the resolution, and "following the direction of Agudath Israel's rabbinic leadership," the American branch of the international haredi-religious organization was "deeply pained and concerned about the prospect of Israel relinquishing parts of Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty." The reasons for its resolution, the Agudath Yisrael statement said, were "relating to considerations of security as well as the singular place Jerusalem has always occupied in Jewish religious and communal life...."

Last month, a leading scholar and acknowledged spiritual leader in the non-Hassidic haredi world, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, joined the struggle against the re-division of Jerusalem.