Tourism Minister Benny Elon said that calling the Palestinian Authority a \"terrorist-supporting entity\" has practical ramifications: \"It means, for instance, that the PA television and radio stations can be bombed. I\'m not saying when or how this will happen - but before we take any of a number of military, political, economic, or propaganda measures, we have to first make this declaration... I\'m not here to praise us now, we simply were going from one funeral to another... I think that Peres, by walking out last night and fighting this decision, understood correctly that there is no more Tenet, Mitchell, or Oslo. There is no other explanation [of last night\'s decision].\"
Minister Elon said that the decision was not a result of an ultimatum by his party to quit the government: \"First of all, we did not issue an ultimatum. Secondly, I have no interest in presenting Sharon as a weak leader in front of the world; that\'s what Peres does. Sharon is not weak. He led a difficult decision last night, even when the Labor ministers got up from the table - not once but a few times. He was strong and leader-like. During this time of crisis, my job is to show that he is a strong leader, and not just to garner a few political points for my own party. If people want to criticize me for \'sticking to my government chair\' and not wanting to quit, that\'s fine - that\'s their right, and it\'s their job to make sure that I don\'t fall asleep at the post...\"
Minister Elon said that he supports the call of the students of Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai to restore Israeli control to Joseph\'s Tomb in Shechem: \"This would be a manifestation of \'returning to the status quo\' as it was 14 months ago [when, at the beginning of the current Oslo War, Israeli forces retreated in mid-battle and abandoned Joseph\'s Tomb]. However, that is not enough: The holy site cannot remain an enclave in Shechem, where we have to rely on the \'good offices\' of Jibril Rajoub to allow us in; we saw how he helped Madhat Yusuf [the soldier who was killed in the above battle; Israel had counted on Rajoub to safely evacuate him]. We must have territorial contiguity with the site, and with the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho as well.\"
Former MK Uriel Linn, who once headed the Knesset Law Committee, explained to Arutz-7 today how he saw the Cabinet declaration:
\"The true significance of the decision is not the declaring of Tanzim a terror organization, but rather the designation of the PA as a terrorist-supporting entity. This does not have a specific legal meaning, but should rather be understood according to common sense. It doesn\'t mean that we declare war on them tomorrow, just as we don\'t do so against other such entities such as Iraq or Syria. Instead, it means that there are certain steps that we must take - or else we ourselves turn into a terrorist-supporting entity. For instance, we cannot transfer any monies to them [even those called for by the Oslo Agreements]… Next, we must freeze and confiscate all the monies in our banks that belong to Arafat personally, or other PA leaders, or the PA itself. This seems an obvious step. Third, we can cut off their supply lines, so that they will not be able to transport weapons or other unmonitored materials. If we want to go further, we must disarm the PA of all its weapons. These are logical steps that are indicated by the decision last night.\"
Minister Elon said that the decision was not a result of an ultimatum by his party to quit the government: \"First of all, we did not issue an ultimatum. Secondly, I have no interest in presenting Sharon as a weak leader in front of the world; that\'s what Peres does. Sharon is not weak. He led a difficult decision last night, even when the Labor ministers got up from the table - not once but a few times. He was strong and leader-like. During this time of crisis, my job is to show that he is a strong leader, and not just to garner a few political points for my own party. If people want to criticize me for \'sticking to my government chair\' and not wanting to quit, that\'s fine - that\'s their right, and it\'s their job to make sure that I don\'t fall asleep at the post...\"
Minister Elon said that he supports the call of the students of Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai to restore Israeli control to Joseph\'s Tomb in Shechem: \"This would be a manifestation of \'returning to the status quo\' as it was 14 months ago [when, at the beginning of the current Oslo War, Israeli forces retreated in mid-battle and abandoned Joseph\'s Tomb]. However, that is not enough: The holy site cannot remain an enclave in Shechem, where we have to rely on the \'good offices\' of Jibril Rajoub to allow us in; we saw how he helped Madhat Yusuf [the soldier who was killed in the above battle; Israel had counted on Rajoub to safely evacuate him]. We must have territorial contiguity with the site, and with the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho as well.\"
Former MK Uriel Linn, who once headed the Knesset Law Committee, explained to Arutz-7 today how he saw the Cabinet declaration:
\"The true significance of the decision is not the declaring of Tanzim a terror organization, but rather the designation of the PA as a terrorist-supporting entity. This does not have a specific legal meaning, but should rather be understood according to common sense. It doesn\'t mean that we declare war on them tomorrow, just as we don\'t do so against other such entities such as Iraq or Syria. Instead, it means that there are certain steps that we must take - or else we ourselves turn into a terrorist-supporting entity. For instance, we cannot transfer any monies to them [even those called for by the Oslo Agreements]… Next, we must freeze and confiscate all the monies in our banks that belong to Arafat personally, or other PA leaders, or the PA itself. This seems an obvious step. Third, we can cut off their supply lines, so that they will not be able to transport weapons or other unmonitored materials. If we want to go further, we must disarm the PA of all its weapons. These are logical steps that are indicated by the decision last night.\"