MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) had a major role in his party\'s resignation from the government two weeks ago, in protest of its \"weak\" policies in face of the Palestinian Authority\'s continued warfare. In light of the apparent change in policy, Hendel was asked today by Arutz-7 why the party does not return to the government now. His response:
\"First of all, I congratulate the IDF for its activities. However, when Prime Minister Sharon asked to speak with us [on Friday] and invited us back to his government, we asked him what his true goal is - and unfortunately we realized that there has barely been any change. The goal must be the total dismantling of the PA - the PA that we ourselves built! Only when the government decides to do this, and send all the leaders back to Tunis, and take back all the weapons, and take complete control of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza - obviously it won\'t take a day or a week to do that - but when a decision to do this is made, [then we can return to the government]. At present, they\'re not even capturing master-terrorist Barghouti, or anyone who wears the cloak of a politician... OK, they decided not to kill Arafat, but what about putting him in jail? And where\'s our Foreign Minister, and where\'s our Foreign Ministry\'s information campaign explaining to the world what we\'re doing? Our message appears to be only that the Oslo process is a little stuck, and we\'re trying to sweep the problems under the carpet because we would like to continue with it - instead of telling the world that Oslo is over!\"
Asked how he is keeping busy in the opposition, Hendel answered, \"Permit me to depart from my usual practice and be a bit immodest. There are two reasons why this offensive has started: One is Arafat and his terrorist gang, and the other is our departure from the government. Arik [Sharon] must now show that he is a right-winger, because Bibi [Netanyahu] is breathing down his neck. Our party must remain outside the coalition in order to keep the pressure on. We will support him from the outside - but we will not return to the government until he defines the goal.\"
\"First of all, I congratulate the IDF for its activities. However, when Prime Minister Sharon asked to speak with us [on Friday] and invited us back to his government, we asked him what his true goal is - and unfortunately we realized that there has barely been any change. The goal must be the total dismantling of the PA - the PA that we ourselves built! Only when the government decides to do this, and send all the leaders back to Tunis, and take back all the weapons, and take complete control of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza - obviously it won\'t take a day or a week to do that - but when a decision to do this is made, [then we can return to the government]. At present, they\'re not even capturing master-terrorist Barghouti, or anyone who wears the cloak of a politician... OK, they decided not to kill Arafat, but what about putting him in jail? And where\'s our Foreign Minister, and where\'s our Foreign Ministry\'s information campaign explaining to the world what we\'re doing? Our message appears to be only that the Oslo process is a little stuck, and we\'re trying to sweep the problems under the carpet because we would like to continue with it - instead of telling the world that Oslo is over!\"
Asked how he is keeping busy in the opposition, Hendel answered, \"Permit me to depart from my usual practice and be a bit immodest. There are two reasons why this offensive has started: One is Arafat and his terrorist gang, and the other is our departure from the government. Arik [Sharon] must now show that he is a right-winger, because Bibi [Netanyahu] is breathing down his neck. Our party must remain outside the coalition in order to keep the pressure on. We will support him from the outside - but we will not return to the government until he defines the goal.\"