Mofaz made the remarks as he toured the area in which the partition wall is being built around Jerusalem.
The decision is not final, however, and will be made by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today or tomorrow.
Labor Party leader and Prime Ministerial candidate Amir Peretz said he's pleased with the apparent decision to allow Jerusalem Arabs to vote in the PA election, which, he says, will prevent them from voting for the Knesset in the future.
MK Ophir Pines (Labor) said, "The government made every possible mistake on its way to making the right decision. It harmed Israel's international standing and strengthened Hamas and the extremists in the Palestinian Authority."
Repeating that which was long said about Yasser Arafat, Pines said, "The government should have helped Abu Mazen and the moderate elements in the PA leadership hold the elections, and thus stabilize their leadership as opposed to Hamas."
Former Minister Natan Sharansky, running for a spot on the Likud list of Knesset candidates, said, "It is very sad; we're apparently not willing or able to stand on anything..."
Asked about the point raised by Peretz, Sharansky said, "Yes, annexing and keeping our holy city of Jerusalem means we will have to accept 150,000 or so Arabs who are living in eastern Jerusalem as citizens - if they agree to be loyal citizens of the state." Others have noted that the Arabs of Jerusalem are no different than the Arabs of the Galilee and Negev, and that the Arabs of Jerusalem already receive National Insurance and other Israeli benefits.
The National Union response to the apparent decision:
"There is no limit to the cynicism and hypocrisy of the left wing, led by the Kadima Party. On the one hand, they embrace Jerusalem, talking about its historic importance and promise to keep it whole - and on the other hand, they allow Arabs of the eastern part to take part in Palestinian Authority elections. We will fight these defeatist trends and make sure that Jerusalem will not be torn away from the Nation of Israel."
MK Sha'ul Yahalom (National Religious Party) said, "The government is giving ammunition to those who want to divide Jerusalem."
Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that if Mofaz is correct in predicting Olmert's decision, it represents a cave-in to U.S. pressure, as well as to threats that Israel would be blamed for blocking the elections.
"The U.S. has exerted pressure to allow the Arabs to vote in post offices, as occurred in 1996," Huberman said. "The idea was that it would be like absentee ballots, with residents mailing the ballot to other polling places. In actuality, however, it was much more like a genuine polling station; election officials were present, and the ballots were not mailed, but were rather placed in a box that looked exactly like a ballot box. So in the end, we had - and will apparently have again - voting for the Palestinian Authority legislature, including for Hamas candidates, in Israel's own capital... This is another major concession on the part of Israel, one of many of late."
The decision is not final, however, and will be made by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today or tomorrow.
Labor Party leader and Prime Ministerial candidate Amir Peretz said he's pleased with the apparent decision to allow Jerusalem Arabs to vote in the PA election, which, he says, will prevent them from voting for the Knesset in the future.
MK Ophir Pines (Labor) said, "The government made every possible mistake on its way to making the right decision. It harmed Israel's international standing and strengthened Hamas and the extremists in the Palestinian Authority."
Repeating that which was long said about Yasser Arafat, Pines said, "The government should have helped Abu Mazen and the moderate elements in the PA leadership hold the elections, and thus stabilize their leadership as opposed to Hamas."
Former Minister Natan Sharansky, running for a spot on the Likud list of Knesset candidates, said, "It is very sad; we're apparently not willing or able to stand on anything..."
Asked about the point raised by Peretz, Sharansky said, "Yes, annexing and keeping our holy city of Jerusalem means we will have to accept 150,000 or so Arabs who are living in eastern Jerusalem as citizens - if they agree to be loyal citizens of the state." Others have noted that the Arabs of Jerusalem are no different than the Arabs of the Galilee and Negev, and that the Arabs of Jerusalem already receive National Insurance and other Israeli benefits.
The National Union response to the apparent decision:
"There is no limit to the cynicism and hypocrisy of the left wing, led by the Kadima Party. On the one hand, they embrace Jerusalem, talking about its historic importance and promise to keep it whole - and on the other hand, they allow Arabs of the eastern part to take part in Palestinian Authority elections. We will fight these defeatist trends and make sure that Jerusalem will not be torn away from the Nation of Israel."
MK Sha'ul Yahalom (National Religious Party) said, "The government is giving ammunition to those who want to divide Jerusalem."
Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that if Mofaz is correct in predicting Olmert's decision, it represents a cave-in to U.S. pressure, as well as to threats that Israel would be blamed for blocking the elections.
"The U.S. has exerted pressure to allow the Arabs to vote in post offices, as occurred in 1996," Huberman said. "The idea was that it would be like absentee ballots, with residents mailing the ballot to other polling places. In actuality, however, it was much more like a genuine polling station; election officials were present, and the ballots were not mailed, but were rather placed in a box that looked exactly like a ballot box. So in the end, we had - and will apparently have again - voting for the Palestinian Authority legislature, including for Hamas candidates, in Israel's own capital... This is another major concession on the part of Israel, one of many of late."