Filling out the government ministries is only one aspect of the challenge facing Sharon in the wake of Labor's quitting. The government currently numbers only 55 MKs (out of 120), and the Prime Minister must either: add the 7-MK National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu (NUYB) faction; schedule new elections; or attempt to run the country with a minority government. The NUYB party has already announced that it would not support the no-confidence motion to be introduced in the Knesset tomorrow, giving Sharon a little breathing room.
Representatives of the Prime Minister and NUYB met this afternoon to discuss the conditions under which the party might join the coalition. It is known that party leader MK Avigdor Lieberman is not in favor of joining a narrow government. He is hoping instead for early elections that will give the right-wing a stronger Knesset presence. The current Knesset make-up still reflects the 1999 elections in which Labor's Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister.
MK Yuri Stern, one of the three members of the NUYB delegation that met with Sharon's representatives today, told Arutz-7 beforehand, "We want to understand to what extent the new government will really be a new one, and not just a continuation of the old one - in terms of its approach to a Palestinian state, the American 'Road Map' plan, etc. If it's just the same old thing, then we won't join." Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane asked, "But your party was signed on the original guidelines, and you were in fact were members of the government for a while?" Stern responded that the guidelines say nothing about a Palestinian state, and that Sharon's statements in favor of one must be repudiated. He said that if the initial contacts today show potential, the next step would be a Sharon-Lieberman meeting.
Kahane asked, "What do you say to the accusation that the right-wing has toppled two of its own governments in the past decades [Yitzchak Shamir in 1992 and Binyamin Netanyahu in 1999], leading both times to the establishment of left-wing governments, and that now again you appear to be doing the same?"
Stern: "This is not a right-wing government. If it continues along the same path that the unity government took, then it's not a nationalist government…"
Talks are also expected later in the week between Prime Minister Sharon or his representatives and the leaders of Gesher (2 MKs, led by David Levy), One Nation (2, Amir Peretz), and Herut (1, Michael Kleiner), as well as the anti-religious but hawkish Shinui party (6 MKs, Tommy Lapid).
Representatives of the Prime Minister and NUYB met this afternoon to discuss the conditions under which the party might join the coalition. It is known that party leader MK Avigdor Lieberman is not in favor of joining a narrow government. He is hoping instead for early elections that will give the right-wing a stronger Knesset presence. The current Knesset make-up still reflects the 1999 elections in which Labor's Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister.
MK Yuri Stern, one of the three members of the NUYB delegation that met with Sharon's representatives today, told Arutz-7 beforehand, "We want to understand to what extent the new government will really be a new one, and not just a continuation of the old one - in terms of its approach to a Palestinian state, the American 'Road Map' plan, etc. If it's just the same old thing, then we won't join." Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane asked, "But your party was signed on the original guidelines, and you were in fact were members of the government for a while?" Stern responded that the guidelines say nothing about a Palestinian state, and that Sharon's statements in favor of one must be repudiated. He said that if the initial contacts today show potential, the next step would be a Sharon-Lieberman meeting.
Kahane asked, "What do you say to the accusation that the right-wing has toppled two of its own governments in the past decades [Yitzchak Shamir in 1992 and Binyamin Netanyahu in 1999], leading both times to the establishment of left-wing governments, and that now again you appear to be doing the same?"
Stern: "This is not a right-wing government. If it continues along the same path that the unity government took, then it's not a nationalist government…"
Talks are also expected later in the week between Prime Minister Sharon or his representatives and the leaders of Gesher (2 MKs, led by David Levy), One Nation (2, Amir Peretz), and Herut (1, Michael Kleiner), as well as the anti-religious but hawkish Shinui party (6 MKs, Tommy Lapid).