JERUSALEM, OCT 18: Israel's opposition Likud leader Ariel Sharon has abandoned talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on forming a national unity government following the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, his party spokesman said on Wednesday.The spokesman said Sharon ``views seriously the fact that the Prime minister accepted to continue negotiations (with the Palestinians) on the basis of Camp David as if nothing had happened''.The references were to Barak's accord with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sealed at Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday, their inconclusive Camp David summit in July, and the violence which has rocked the Palestinian territories for nearly three weeks, killing more than 100 people.``In these circumstances, Sharon considers there is no valid reason to continue negotiations with a view to forming an emergency government,'' the spokesman added. The party leadership would meet later on Wednesday to approve Sharon's decision, he said.The head of Likud's parliamentary group, Reuven Rvlin, said, ``We will always support the Prime Minister when it's a question of facing upto the violence, but we will not act as a political safety net for him.''He accused Barak of trying to accommodate Arafat after accusing him of not being a partner for peace. Rivlin did not rule out joining a broad-based government if the violence continued despite the Sharm el-Sheikh accord.Barak lacks a majority and faces a vote for early elections after Parliament reconvenes on October 29. Sharon is accused by the Palestinians of sparking the violence when he visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, a sacred site for Muslims, which was built on the remains of the destroyed Jewish temple, Judaism's holiest place. The sensitive site is at the centre of a fierce dispute over sovereignty between Israelis and Palestinians.
