In the hopes of winning over the likes of Sahfe, then-prime minister Ehud Barak and then-foreign minister and public security minister Shlomo Ben-Ami rejected the Vatican's objections.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Addressing Israel's homegrown enemies

But the popular response to the unilateralist thesis enunciated by such senior figures as Haim Ramon and Shlomo Ben-Ami was too strong for Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the party's chairman, to withstand.

ECONOMIST: Israel and the Palestinians

But both sides were still waiting for the decision of a ministerial committee, set up by Mr Netanyahu but now under the chairmanship of Shlomo Ben-Ami, the new internal security minister.

ECONOMIST: Nazareth

Shlomo Ben Ami - the public security minister and a leading member of the government's negotiating team with the Palestinians - has, by contrast, been damaged by his association with Ehud Barak.

BBC: Barak's party stripped of power