Yesha Council to Sharon: Tell Peres to Desist

The Yesha Council called upon Prime Minister Sharon to instruct Peres not to raise the issue of a Palestinian state during his speech. The Council also called upon the right-wing parties - National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu, Yisrael B\'Aliyah, and possibly Shas - to threaten to resign from the government if Peres does in fact propose a PLO state.

Nov 15, 2001, 12:31 PM (GMT+2)

In response to the reports of Peres\' anticipated speech, Housing Minister Natan Sharansky said today, \"The establishment of a Palestinian state at this time means the establishment of a terrorist state.\" The Yesha Council called upon Prime Minister Sharon to instruct Peres not to raise the issue of a Palestinian state during his speech. The Council also called upon the right-wing parties - National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu, Yisrael B\'Aliyah, and possibly Shas - to threaten to resign from the government if Peres does in fact propose a PLO state. Council member Atty. Elyakim HaEtzni said that Sharon has already violated his promise of two weeks ago to the National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu party, not to concoct secret diplomatic plans. \"It turns out that at the Sharon-Peres meeting on Saturday night they secretly agreed on this plan involving a PLO state,\" he said.