Sharansky has stated that "the Palestinian
leadership is not yet prepared to live in peace . . and concessions will
only lead to more violence." He stressed that "the Jewish
people must refuse to divide Jerusalem . . . because even peace is not worth
any price." Sharansky was the first minister to quit Barak's
coalition government, thereby weakening Barak's ability to make
concessions. He then organized a massive rally in support of Jerusalem,
the largest rally in the history of Jerusalem. Sharansky was also
the ONLY minister in any of three governments to call for ceasing the flow of
funds into Arafat’s private account.
At the 25th
anniversary of the Helsinki Watch Group, Sharansky (a founding member)
proposed that the same conditions that were applied to the Soviet Union, which
linked economic benefits to progress made in human rights and democracy, be
applied to the PA and Arab states. He recommended that Israel "stop
placing its faith in corrupt dictators and start helping the Palestinian
people directly" by conditioning its support on advances "toward
developing an open and transparent society."
Found a
solution, in cooperation with the Rabbinate, for the problem of burials
of non-halachic Jews. Today, there are over twenty sites throughout the
country for the burial of non-halachic Jews. Found
a working solution for many problems of Jewish identity and conversion.
These solutions were found WITHOUT the ideological battles that serve
only to divide the sectors of Israeli society.
In 2000, as
Minister of the Interior, Sharansky visited transit camps in Ethiopia and
streamlined the process by which would-be immigrants were approved for
immigration by allowing requests for immigration to be submitted in Ethiopia
rather than through a relative in Israel, and also by increasing the staff
that deals with the requests from Ethiopia. Also, YBA gave new immigrants a voice and representation on
all levels of government from municipal to central.
In 1997, as Minister of Trade and Industry, Sharansky opened new trade with Russia, Jordan, South Korea, and Japan. He signed a record number of free trade agreements, pushed for larger research and development budgets for the high tech industry, and led the battle for cutting red tape in industry and commerce. Also, YBA introduced legislation that required price tags in makolets and supermarkets.
Tax reform - made sure that in the recommendations of the Ben Bassat committee (2000), Western immigrants would not be harmed by the proposed double taxation on passive incomes from abroad. Currently (2002) putting up a fight with the Rabinovich committee to reintroduce those same changes.
In budgetary cuts of 2002, made sure that those olim who
did shlav bet army service would not have their child allowance (kitzbaot
yeladim) cut.
As Housing
Minister, Sharansky made available grants and loans with subsidized interest
payments for communities in Judea and Samaria (including Efrat!), and in the
Jerusalem neighborhoods of Har Homa and Pisgat Zeev. He also approved over 700 new housing units in Maale
Adumim and Alfei Menashe, in defiance of American pressure.
During the 1999
election campaign for Prime Minister, Sharansky refused to respond in kind to
racial slurs directed at Russian immigrants by Shas leaders. He said,
"You can fight for political goals without stigmatizing complete sections
of the public. We won't be part of this. We will go on working to
build this country together with Shas and every other group."