MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) and his party colleagues met with Prime Minister Sharon last night, and presented their demand that he end the \"restraint\" and fight back at the Palestinian Authority. Hendel explained to Arutz-7 today why he does not support the proposal that his party leave the government at present:
\"I have no ulterior motives, in that I have no Volvo [a perk of a Ministerial position], so I am an objective observer. The reason why I think we should remain in the government is as follows: We were originally misled into thinking that the unity government was comprised of two forces, Sharon and Peres, and that Sharon, as Prime Minister, would have the stronger voice. But we now know that this is not true, and that the government is actually running on a program set solely by Peres. We now hope to work full-steam ahead to form a new plan of action that hopefully Sharon will employ. This is the position that most of the country holds, and we will start leading the way. If we see that this is working, then fine, but if not, we will leave the government... I told Sharon that most of the country is in favor of a strong military response. Who supports Sharon right now? Barak supporters, and the Arabs, and a few right-wingers who believe that Sharon is merely waiting for the right minute to let loose with an attack. But, I told him, if it turns out that this is not what will happen, then actually no one will support you, because the Barak supporters only like you when you are small and dependent on them...\"
Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi, however, of the same party, is in favor of leaving the government. Visiting Nahariya today, he expressed his skepticism about chances of peace with Arafat: \"The ceasefire may last a day or it may last a month, but in the final analysis, a scorpion remains a scorpion, and he will again sting us. We will then discover that we have wasted much time and also blood.\" Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, on the other hand, says that it is possible to return to the negotiating table within 4-5 months: six weeks of a ceasefire, followed by a \"meaningful cooling-off period\" and confidence building measures, as stipulated in the Mitchell Report.
\"I have no ulterior motives, in that I have no Volvo [a perk of a Ministerial position], so I am an objective observer. The reason why I think we should remain in the government is as follows: We were originally misled into thinking that the unity government was comprised of two forces, Sharon and Peres, and that Sharon, as Prime Minister, would have the stronger voice. But we now know that this is not true, and that the government is actually running on a program set solely by Peres. We now hope to work full-steam ahead to form a new plan of action that hopefully Sharon will employ. This is the position that most of the country holds, and we will start leading the way. If we see that this is working, then fine, but if not, we will leave the government... I told Sharon that most of the country is in favor of a strong military response. Who supports Sharon right now? Barak supporters, and the Arabs, and a few right-wingers who believe that Sharon is merely waiting for the right minute to let loose with an attack. But, I told him, if it turns out that this is not what will happen, then actually no one will support you, because the Barak supporters only like you when you are small and dependent on them...\"
Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi, however, of the same party, is in favor of leaving the government. Visiting Nahariya today, he expressed his skepticism about chances of peace with Arafat: \"The ceasefire may last a day or it may last a month, but in the final analysis, a scorpion remains a scorpion, and he will again sting us. We will then discover that we have wasted much time and also blood.\" Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, on the other hand, says that it is possible to return to the negotiating table within 4-5 months: six weeks of a ceasefire, followed by a \"meaningful cooling-off period\" and confidence building measures, as stipulated in the Mitchell Report.