Arutz-7\'s Ariel Kahane spoke with Housing Minister Natan Sharansky, who offered his opinions on the current situation:
\"No, I do not believe that there is any chance that Arafat will stop the terrorism. We have taken the necessary steps to protect Israel\'s security, but it is clear that within 48 hours, Arafat will not stop the violence and that will be the end of the ceasefire... We\'re not talking about hypothetical threats, but rather that we will resume doing things, such as entering PA areas and taking other offensive actions, that we did up until just a couple of weeks ago.\"
When asked why his party does not join the National Union party\'s initiative to ban any further Peres-Arafat meetings and even to fire Peres, Sharansky said, \"Regarding the meetings, we have written to Sharon protesting these meetings, and in fact we have caused some limitations to be imposed upon them. But regarding the other issue - it\'s not a personal matter against Peres, and I have been and continue to be in favor of the national unity government... We must do everything we can in order to ensure that there not be two voices in the government, but a split in the nation would be even worse. If Labor quits the coalition, there is a good chance that we will face opposition rallies of tens or hundreds of thousands, and other internal pressure, in favor of reaching agreements with the Palestinians that are not good for us.\"
Kahane then asked MK Eliezer (Cheeta) Cohen (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) why his party has not left the coalition - despite its strong hints of last week that it would do so in the event of a Peres-Arafat meeting. \"We never threatened,\" Cheeta said, \"and in fact I believe very strongly in what they used to say in the Westerns: \'If you want to shoot, shoot - don\'t just talk.\' We don\'t believe in threats. If we decide that it\'s time to leave, it could be that one day you\'ll wake up and find that we haven\'t even informed the media, Heaven forbid - but we\'ll have left the government...
\"What happened in the last couple of days,\" MK Cohen continued, \"is not only that Peres and Arafat did not reach an agreement to begin negotiations, but yesterday, with over 50 Arab attacks, was the most violent day since the beginning of the current hostilities. Our forces also fought back, and 11 Palestinians were killed... Every child in Israel sees that Peres failed... I agree that we did not want a Peres-Arafat meeting, but the bottom line is that it\'s no big deal since in the end, Peres did not get what he wanted from it... We have been telling Sharon for two months that we don\'t want this meeting; but our position is that Peres should be the one to leave the government; why should we have to leave?\"
When asked to explain why his party continues to do nothing more than to talk to Sharon, Cohen answered, \"Allow me to remind you that Ariel Sharon is the Prime Minister, and he still insists on this national unity government. But I know Sharon, and I say that in the end he\'ll get tired of this game. Speak to me in another 2-3 weeks, and let\'s see where Sharon will be, where Peres will be, and where we\'ll be. If the situation doesn\'t change, I can promise that we\'ll no longer be in the government.\"
MK Michael Kleiner responded to the above remarks: \"I felt sorry for Cheeta [MK Cohen], to whom I usually enjoy listening to in the Knesset when he speaks so eloquently about nationalist matters, but here he was trying to defend the indefensible. The fact is that all the ministers of a government are responsible for its policies and Peres\' meetings and everything... He said that there is a majority within the government against the Peres-Arafat meeting, so why did it happen anyway? How much time can they say they are trying to influence from within? ... The fact is that if Arafat is our Bin Laden, as Sharon has said, then a meeting between our Foreign Minister and Arafat totally sabotages this line of reasoning. It shows that there are two types of terrorism: legitimate terrorism, like Arafat\'s, and the other type...\" Kleiner said that in his opinion, the nationalist parties should quit the coalition, \"and then either Sharon will call new elections, in which the nationalist camp will gain electorally, or he will form a 65-seat nationalist government...\"
\"No, I do not believe that there is any chance that Arafat will stop the terrorism. We have taken the necessary steps to protect Israel\'s security, but it is clear that within 48 hours, Arafat will not stop the violence and that will be the end of the ceasefire... We\'re not talking about hypothetical threats, but rather that we will resume doing things, such as entering PA areas and taking other offensive actions, that we did up until just a couple of weeks ago.\"
When asked why his party does not join the National Union party\'s initiative to ban any further Peres-Arafat meetings and even to fire Peres, Sharansky said, \"Regarding the meetings, we have written to Sharon protesting these meetings, and in fact we have caused some limitations to be imposed upon them. But regarding the other issue - it\'s not a personal matter against Peres, and I have been and continue to be in favor of the national unity government... We must do everything we can in order to ensure that there not be two voices in the government, but a split in the nation would be even worse. If Labor quits the coalition, there is a good chance that we will face opposition rallies of tens or hundreds of thousands, and other internal pressure, in favor of reaching agreements with the Palestinians that are not good for us.\"
Kahane then asked MK Eliezer (Cheeta) Cohen (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) why his party has not left the coalition - despite its strong hints of last week that it would do so in the event of a Peres-Arafat meeting. \"We never threatened,\" Cheeta said, \"and in fact I believe very strongly in what they used to say in the Westerns: \'If you want to shoot, shoot - don\'t just talk.\' We don\'t believe in threats. If we decide that it\'s time to leave, it could be that one day you\'ll wake up and find that we haven\'t even informed the media, Heaven forbid - but we\'ll have left the government...
\"What happened in the last couple of days,\" MK Cohen continued, \"is not only that Peres and Arafat did not reach an agreement to begin negotiations, but yesterday, with over 50 Arab attacks, was the most violent day since the beginning of the current hostilities. Our forces also fought back, and 11 Palestinians were killed... Every child in Israel sees that Peres failed... I agree that we did not want a Peres-Arafat meeting, but the bottom line is that it\'s no big deal since in the end, Peres did not get what he wanted from it... We have been telling Sharon for two months that we don\'t want this meeting; but our position is that Peres should be the one to leave the government; why should we have to leave?\"
When asked to explain why his party continues to do nothing more than to talk to Sharon, Cohen answered, \"Allow me to remind you that Ariel Sharon is the Prime Minister, and he still insists on this national unity government. But I know Sharon, and I say that in the end he\'ll get tired of this game. Speak to me in another 2-3 weeks, and let\'s see where Sharon will be, where Peres will be, and where we\'ll be. If the situation doesn\'t change, I can promise that we\'ll no longer be in the government.\"
MK Michael Kleiner responded to the above remarks: \"I felt sorry for Cheeta [MK Cohen], to whom I usually enjoy listening to in the Knesset when he speaks so eloquently about nationalist matters, but here he was trying to defend the indefensible. The fact is that all the ministers of a government are responsible for its policies and Peres\' meetings and everything... He said that there is a majority within the government against the Peres-Arafat meeting, so why did it happen anyway? How much time can they say they are trying to influence from within? ... The fact is that if Arafat is our Bin Laden, as Sharon has said, then a meeting between our Foreign Minister and Arafat totally sabotages this line of reasoning. It shows that there are two types of terrorism: legitimate terrorism, like Arafat\'s, and the other type...\" Kleiner said that in his opinion, the nationalist parties should quit the coalition, \"and then either Sharon will call new elections, in which the nationalist camp will gain electorally, or he will form a 65-seat nationalist government...\"