The coalition negotiating team of Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak imposed two conditions if the fervently Orthodox Shas Party wants to join the next government: that Shas leader Aryeh Deri sever all connections to the party and that Shas give up control of the powerful Interior Ministry. But Shas negotiators said after the meeting that they would rather sit in the opposition than meet those demands. “Whoever wants us will get us as we are,” said outgoing Interior Minister Eli Suissa.
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