High chances that Likud will quit the government

The Likud party on Monday morning assessed that chances were high that its ministers would resign their posts in the government in the coming days. However, the newly elected party chairman Binyamin Netanyahu announced that the decision had not yet been reached. High-ranking sources in Kadima said that the choice whether to stay in the government was an internal Likud issue. They added that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would not reappoint ministers to all the positions that were to become available, but only the most vital ones. Israel Radio reported that Sharon meant to appoint MKs Ze'ev Boim, Roni Bar-On, Yaacov Edri, Shimon Peres, and Ehud Olmert to the vacated ministerial positions.