The leader of Israel's right-wing Likud opposition party, Ariel Sharon, met with Prime Minister Ehud Barak for more than an hour late Tuesday to discuss security issues, Sharon's spokesman said.
The two men did not discuss the possibility of Sharon joining a government of national unity.
"There was no question on the formation of a cabinet of national unity," the spokesman said, adding that senior military and security officials had been present at the meeting, which was held in Barak's office.
The two men met Tuesday for the first time in nearly two weeks, at which time they had discussed in vain the formation of a national unity government.
Barak repeated earlier Tuesday that he still favored forming a national unity government to deal with a 10-week Palestinian uprising.
"The situation demands a national unity government, but this cannot be forced on anybody. It depends on the goodwill, understanding and lucidity of potential partners," Barak told reporters at a military base outside the northern West Bank town of Nablus.
For his part, Sharon called for such a government last week, just after the parliament approved the first reading of a bill to force early elections.
But Monday, Sharon said such a deal was no longer on the agenda.
On a near weekly basis, Sharon has rebuffed Barak's appeals and called on the prime minister to abandon his policy of "concessions" to Palestinians.
Palestinians have in turn warned Israel that a government that included Sharon would be the kiss of death for the peace process, which Barak suspended in October because of the continued bloodletting.
More than 300 people have died, most of them Palestinians, since the tide of unrest was unleashed following a controversial September 28 visit by Sharon to a disputed site in east Jerusalem – JERUSALEM (AFP)
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