\"Ariel Sharon has no mandate from the Likud to establish a Palestinian state - or to even tacitly agree to one.\" So says Likud MK Yisrael Katz, speaking with Arutz-7 this morning. Katz predicts that if a plan of this nature is brought to the Likud Central Committee, it will not be approved. Environment Minister Tzachi HaNegbi said the same yesterday. A Likud group called \"Jewish Identity\" is acting to convene such a session, in order to put an end to any possibility that Sharon may agree to a PLO state.
Tourism Minister Benny Elon (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu), whose party resigned from the government over similar issues - it later withdrew the resignation in the wake of the assassination of Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi - said that he has checked carefully into the matter: \"I know that there are rumors that Sharon will allow Arafat to declare a state,\" he told Arutz-7 today, \"but I don\'t think they are true. We are in contact with Sharon\'s office all the time, and Sharon has totally denied it. He promised us in the past that such a thing would never be sprung as a surprise... It could simply be wishful leaks by Peres aides... It\'s true, we have to be very cautious all the time, and I sincerely admire your alertness, and we, as well, are constantly on the alert.\"
Elon concluded, \"We must remember that the old slogan \'Both sides of the Jordan River\' is not out-dated. The entire area west of the Jordan - i.e., pre-1967 Israel plus Judea and Samaria - is only 22% of the original Land of Israel British mandate. But the rest of Palestine, namely, Jordan, houses three million Palestinians - the largest concentration of Palestinians anywhere. This means that the original, one-and-only Palestinian state is Jordan [and there is no need for another one].\"
Meanwhile, the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China - the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - have issued a statement calling upon Israel to immediately withdraw its forces from PA autonomous areas. The resolution also called upon the Palestinian Authority to do everything it could to prevent violence.
Tourism Minister Benny Elon (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu), whose party resigned from the government over similar issues - it later withdrew the resignation in the wake of the assassination of Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi - said that he has checked carefully into the matter: \"I know that there are rumors that Sharon will allow Arafat to declare a state,\" he told Arutz-7 today, \"but I don\'t think they are true. We are in contact with Sharon\'s office all the time, and Sharon has totally denied it. He promised us in the past that such a thing would never be sprung as a surprise... It could simply be wishful leaks by Peres aides... It\'s true, we have to be very cautious all the time, and I sincerely admire your alertness, and we, as well, are constantly on the alert.\"
Elon concluded, \"We must remember that the old slogan \'Both sides of the Jordan River\' is not out-dated. The entire area west of the Jordan - i.e., pre-1967 Israel plus Judea and Samaria - is only 22% of the original Land of Israel British mandate. But the rest of Palestine, namely, Jordan, houses three million Palestinians - the largest concentration of Palestinians anywhere. This means that the original, one-and-only Palestinian state is Jordan [and there is no need for another one].\"
Meanwhile, the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China - the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - have issued a statement calling upon Israel to immediately withdraw its forces from PA autonomous areas. The resolution also called upon the Palestinian Authority to do everything it could to prevent violence.