Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas announced Sunday morning that the negotiations with Israel are being suspended "for a few days." This followed his statement that Israel is bringing a "holocaust" upon Gaza with its response to seven years of rocket attacks.
The heavy pressure on the Shas party to quit the government has thus eased. Over the past few weeks, heavy pressure had been brought to bear upon Shas, including editorials in the hareidi-religious press, announcements by leading rabbis, and political pronouncements by right-wing figures.
The reason for the pressure? Supporters of a united Jerusalem fear that secret negotiations between the Olmert government and the Fatah leaders of the Palestinian Authority are well on their way towards concluding a deal for the division of Jerusalem between the PA and Israel. It is therefore hoped that Shas will quit the coalition and thus bring about a toppling of the government before such the negotiations progress further.
The 11 MKs of Shas provide the 66-MK coalition with its Knesset majority. If Shas were to quit, new elections would be likely within three months.
Yishai Waiting for Right Moment
Some political pundits surmised that party leader Eli Yishai, the Minister of Industry and Trade, has already decided to quit, and is just waiting for the right timing. However, at least one Shas observer says that this is not true: "Shas has not the slightest intention of pulling out, but is rather counting on the Arabs to cause the negotiations to blow up. After all, the IDF is going to have to go into Gaza sooner or later, and that will stop the process."
These seemingly prophetic words were reported in Makor Rishon this past Friday, just hours before the IDF entered Gaza to stop the Kassams and Katyushas, and shortly before Abbas announced a halt in the talks with Israel.
Others, however, say that there is more to the story of the Shas refusal to quit - and that the real strings in the party are being pulled not by Yishai, but by freshman MK and up-and-coming Shas star Communications Minister Ariel Atias. It is clear that the decisions in Shas are made by its spiritual leader, former Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, but Attias has been known to have Rabbi Yosef's ear of late to a considerable extent.
An editorial in the weekly hareidi newspaper BaKehila [In the Community], by editor Binyamin Lipkin, comes down very hard on Atias, attributing to him the full responsibility for Shas' continued membership in the government. The editorial states that Atias does not want to quit "simply because Jerusalem just doesn't interest him. In the circles in which he travels of late, they don't talk about Jerusalem; they talk about regulators, and cellular mobility, and reforms in the cell-phone industry... But Jerusalem? The '67 borders? Those interest him like last year's snow..."
Atias himself responded to the attack by saying that Lipkin never spoke to him about political affairs, that he had written "slander and libel, and had caused great harm to his paper's credibility." Speaking with Kol Chai Radio, Atias said that Jerusalem should never be divided, and appeared to take the line that negotiations over Jerusalem are not being held.
Asked when Shas should quit the government, Atias said, "I have said in my own voice once, twice and three times: In my view, all of Israel directs its heart to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is like the Nation of Israel's heart. Do you know anyone who would conduct negotiations about his own heart?"
In sum, the Katyushas being fired at Ashkelon added a heavy measure of stress to the city's residents, but have lowered the "Quit now!" pressure on Shas - for now.