Israeli nat'l security head seeks to resign

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 29 May 2003 | HERB KEINON

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May. 29, 2003
Israeli nat'l security head seeks to resign
By HERB KEINON

Ephraim Halevy, the head of the National Security Council, has reportedly tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who refused to accept it and asked Halevy to reconsider.

According to the Ma'ariv daily, Halevy approached Sharon with his resignation on Monday, the same day Avigdor Yitzhaki quit as director general of the Prime Minister's Office.

Like Yitzhaki, Halevy has been at odds with Sharon's powerful bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, for months. Halevy, a former Mossad head, has reportedly been unhappy with how Israel was handling the road map issued, and wanted Israel to initiate a plan of its own, and not just sit back and wait for the road map.

While head of the Mossad, Halevy was considered one of Sharon s most trusted advisors, serving as his emissary on a number of sensitive diplomatic missions, including a trip to Qatar and secret meetings with Mahmoud Abbas long before Abbas became the Palestinian Authority prime minister.

When Halevy moved from the Mossad to the National Security Council, however, he started to run into opposition to his missions from Weisglass.

A few months ago, during the period of heightened tension between Jerusalem and London, Halevy suggested he go meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to keep the lines of communication with Whitehall open.

Sharon agreed, but then backtracked when Weisglass, and later Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, registered their opposition.

According to press reports, one sign of Halevy s receding position in the Prime Minister s Office is that he was in Europe giving lectures during the recent visit of US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The Prime Minister s Office had no comment on the reports, and would say only that as of now Halevy remains in his position.

[onedoug]

No Arab state in Eretz Yisrael.

EVER!