Ariel Sharon of the Likud has a similar goal - to take voters back from Shinui - and took a similar approach. "I won't put myself in the hands of any radical parties, neither of the left nor of the right," he told William Safire of The New York Times. "I can't have those who want to give up everything or those who want to keep everything. I need the center because we have to take painful steps." Sharon did not mention the National Union party by name, thus that all options are still open. Aryeh Eldad of Moledet, a candidate on the National Union list for Knesset, said today that his party would be willing to join the Sharon government on the basis of an agreement that a Palestinian state would not be established.