Knesset Member Nissim Ze'ev of the Shas party says that the Palestinian Authority is not ready for peace with Israel at this time.
In a Sunday interview on Israel National News, the veteran knesset member said:
"Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] stands today and stood in the past at the head of a terrorist organization," MK Ze'ev declared, rejecting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to free 200 Arab terrorists held in Israeli jails as a "gesture" for Abu Mazen. "What is the gesture for? What do we receive in return? If Abu Mazen wants to do anything that practically contradicts the Hamas position, he won't remain alive. The time is not ripe for peace with the Palestinians."
Regarding the possibility that Shas would pull out of the coalition with Olmert's Kadima party, MK Ze'ev said, "We must consider the matter after the [summer] break. The budget is the central matter as far as we are concerned. And as for releasing terrorists, I understand it as if we must once in a while bribe the underworld; that is what the release of terrorists is - if we don't want Abu Mazen to start a new intifada, then we must pay him off."
The MK has submitted a bill that would roll back some of the cuts in the 2009 budget to social welfare allowances for children. According to Ze'ev, large families are facing "intolerable" poverty due to rising food prices. "If the additional funds are not included, we will not be able to support the budget in December," he warned.
In his estimate, Ze'ev said, regardless of who takes over the Kadima party from Olmert, "it appears most likely that we are headed for elections."