Shas would leave the Israeli government if Jerusalem was even mentioned in any document ahead of an Israeli-Palestinian peace conference, the party’s leader said.
Eli Yishai, the Israeli trade and industry minister, said Shas “opposed any mention of Jerusalem at Annapolis,” referring to the parley to be convened next month by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Yishai, who was in Washington to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Carlos Gutierrez, described the meeting he had earlier this week with Rice.
“I told her that bringing up Jerusalem in a substantive way at the conference would likely bring about the fall of the government,” he said.
Yishai is touring the United States and Mexico promoting investment in Israel, particularly in training fervently Orthodox Jews to enter the high-tech workplace.
In his meeting with Gutierrez, Yishai said he discussed U.S. visa policy. Yishai said the current policy was preventing Israeli businessmen from working in the United States and inhibiting trade between the countries.
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