 | | Sharon´s Party Favors Palestinian State
Sharon's Kadima party platform, presented to the public Monday, is identical to Labor's on the Israeli-Arab conflict. It vows to keep only Jerusalem and settlement blocs - less than 10% of Yesha.
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More Details |  | | Editor: Hillel Fendel
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
27 Cheshvan 5766
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| | | 1. Sharon´s Party Favors Palestinian State
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Sharon's Kadima party platform, presented to the public Monday, is identical to Labor's on the Israeli-Arab conflict. It vows to keep only Jerusalem and settlement blocs - less than 10% of Yesha.
| Justice Minister Tzippy Livny, one of the leading Cabinet ministers who bolted the Likud to join Sharon's party, presented the new party's platform yesterday.
The platform's main diplomatic points:
* A Palestinian state should be established in Judea and Samaria.
* The PA state is to be demilitarized and clean of terrorism.
* Jerusalem and Jewish settlement blocs must remain under Israeli sovereignty.
* Israel must balance the need to retain a Jewish majority with maintaining control of some of the areas in dispute.
Arutz-7 diplomatic correspondent Haggai Huberman noted that the "demilitarized and clean of terrorism" clause is fairly questionable, as the PA has never fulfilled similar clauses in the past or agreed to do so.
Huberman explained that the "settlement bloc" issue, as well, raises many questions. "To many people who are not familiar with the map," Huberman said, "it sounds impressive, as if Israel will retain a great presence in Judea and Samaria. But for those who do know the situation - and it can be seen on the ground when you look at the partition fence/wall that's being built - it's a very different picture. The blocs that are being talked about are really not very large at all."
The blocs in question are three: The Shomron city of Ariel and environs, the city of Maaleh Adumim just east of Jerusalem, and Gush Etzion, between Jerusalem and Hevron. Huberman said that each of them presents a problem:
"Take Ariel, for instance. We're no longer talking about a bloc, but just the city of Ariel with a little addition to the west. The communities of Emanuel, Yakir, Revavah and the like no longer seem to be under consideration. Or take Gush Etzion; the fence/wall as currently planned and built divides it in two parts, such that it's not clear whether there is any real intention to retain the communities of Nokdim, Tekoa, and El-David - which are on the 'wrong' side - or to abandon them. The same in Maaleh Adumim; it is not clear if the 'bloc' there includes Kfar Adumim, Mishor Adumim and Alon, or just the city itself.
"But even if we assume that Sharon wants to keep the maximum area in all these cases, it still means that Israel will retain no more than 10% of Judea and Samaria. This means that when Ariel Sharon says he wants to keep settlement blocs, it means he wants to give away 90% of the area. This is practically the same as Yossi Beilin's and Labor's plans, not including Jerusalem [which the latter agree to divide].
"And if we assume that in all of the above cases, Sharon plans to keep only the minimal areas for Israel, then it means that he is agreeing to a Palestinian state on 93-94% of the land - which is not that different than what Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat in Camp David several years ago."
"They also did not mention [retaining] the Jordan Valley yesterday," Huberman said. "I listened carefully for that. Not to mention that the partition fence is on the Jordan River, east of the Jordan Valley, and that there is a tremendous border crossing terminal near Mecholah. All this does not bode well for keeping the Jordan Valley under Israeli sovereignty."
"This is not just theoretical," the long-time Arutz-7 commentator and Land of Israel author said. "By looking at the fence/wall being built, we see that Sharon's party has essentially adopted the left-wing position that the fence will be a political one, not just a defensive one, that it will be Israel's final border, and that all the Jewish communities on its other side will be destroyed."
"From a political angle," Huberman added, "it's important to note that the route of the fence/wall was actually designed by Mofaz [the current Defense Minister, who is now running for head of the Likud Party - ed.] Mofaz is the one who built it and planned it. For this reason, Sharon is interested in having Mofaz win the Likud leadership, so that it will be easier for him [Sharon] to implement his policies."
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| | 2. Political Perambulations
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Minister Dalia Itzik of Labor announced her surprise transfer to Sharon's Kadima Party, apparently to be followed by Shimon Peres.Left-wing TV/radio personality Shelly Yechimovitch is joining Labor.
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Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz made a less-than-rousing call yesterday for party colleagues to remain in the party. Speaking at a Labor Party Knesset faction, Peretz likened these weeks in the current national political scene to that of the two-month period in which football teams are allowed to trade and hire new players. He asked that Shimon Peres, in particular, stay with Labor, Peres' political home for decades. He did not mention Dalia Itzik by name, though her absence from the meeting raised some eyebrows.
Itzik then took the political establishment by surprise later that evening when she called Ariel Sharon and informed him that she was joining his party. Thus culminated 12 days of secret negotiations between Sharon's aides and Itzik. Her move apparently paves the way for Shimon Peres, Labor's leader for close to 20 years, to quit the party and join Sharon.
Itzik thus becomes the 18th Knesset Member in Sharon's new party, which now includes 14 former Likud MKs, as well as Chaim Ramon (formerly of Labor), Michael Nudelman (National Union), and David Tal (One Nation).
Even more surprising was the news that Shelly Yechimovitch plans to vie for a spot on the list of Labor Party Knesset candidates. She has said in the past that she is a Meretz party voter. Together with her announcement, She has already resigned her position at the Channel Two news organization.
One of her senior colleagues at Army Radio, Razi Barkai, said this morning that her move is admirable but "very risky," as "if she becomes a Knesset Member, then great, but if she does not, then she will have a very hard time returning to journalism - certainly not on the senior level she currently enjoys."
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| 3. Sharon Promises Education Ministry to Shinui Party Founder
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Prof. Uriel Reichman, the man credited with founding the extreme anti-religious Shinui Party, is joining Ariel Sharon's Kadima party - in exchange for the post of Education Minister.
| Rumors had been circulating since even before Sharon announced the formation of his party that Reichman [pictured], President of the Shinui Party National Council, might join him. Prof. Reichman currently presides over the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, chairs the Constitution for Israel Movement, is a member of the Human Rights Committee, and was Dean of the Law Faculty at Tel Aviv University.
In addition to being Education Minister in a Sharon-led government, Reichman also plans to occupy himself with the newly-popular topic of "changing the governmental system in Israel." Sharon appointed Justice Minister Tzippy Livny this week to head a committee on that matter.
Reichman wrote earlier this year that Shinui's flagship issue of fighting the religious establishment is not as central as it once was, and should not be recycled in the next election. "Other issues have gained prominence," he wrote, including "economic and social problems, the deterioration in morality and in education, corruption..."
Another development today in the rapidly-changing political scene was that Education Ministry Director-General Ronit Tirosh appears headed for Sharon's Kadima party as well. She worked closely with her boss, Education Minister Limor Livnat, over the past three years, and Livnat is unhappy at the turn of events. Livnat summoned Tirosh to an urgent meeting today, and is reported to be prepared to fire her if she does not deny that she is leaving the Likud.
Likud MK Gideon Saar said today that Kadima's new acquisitions prove that it is a hodge-podge party of various ideologies - but that it leans leftward. "We see that [new Kadima member] Chaim Ramon [formerly of Labor] even invited the Meretz party to join," Saar told Voice of Israel, "and now there's Itzik and [probably] Peres - this all shows that Sharon's party is really a left-wing party, and not just 'Likud B.'"
Saar said, "The public sees David Tal [from Amir Peretz's previous party], and Michael Nudelman [from the right-wing National Union party], and Yaakov Edry [formerly of the Likud], and Dalia Itzik [formerly of Labor] - and it looks just like one big refugee camp. It includes all sorts of people who used to be party chairmen or held other senior positions, but who arrived for personal reasons. Kadima's platform, as released yesterday, is exactly the same as Labor's in terms of diplomatic issues... Especially in terms of socio-economic issues, it's a real supermarket of opinions: David Tal is totally on the left, while Reichman is totally on the right."
Saar acknowledged that "Sharon is a very popular leader," but expressed optimism that as time goes on, "and as the picture clears up, the situation in the polls will change."
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| | 4. Negotiations Underway for Union and NRP Merger
|  | | By Naomi Grossman and H. Fendel
On Monday, representatives of the National Union and National Religious Party (NRP) met in Jerusalem to discuss a possible merger. The parties hope to publicize a joint list by the week's end.
| The talks are being led by MK Zevulun Orlev (NRP) and MK Rabbi Benny Elon (National Union). Their agenda included various issues, such as education, Jewish identity, social welfare and a new party image.
The NRP leader stated, "Today was a historic milestone for religious Zionism.” It meant, he said, the creation of a broad list that would include the entire religious camp from the Center and the Right.
It has been agreed that Benny Elon, as head of the larger party - the National Union has six Knesset mandates, while the NRP has four - would head the list, unless an agreed-upon outside candidate can be found.
Another issue considered to be critical is a clause stating that the joint party would not join a Sharon-led government unless any new diplomatic agreement is first presented to the public for a referendum.
Several MKs of both parties visited the Machpelah Cave together today, on what organizer MK Uri Ariel (National Union) called a "cohesion-building tour."
Polls show that the joint list can be expected to double the list of mandates currently held by both parties. In order to promote the cause of unity, a “Campaign for Unity in the National Camp” has been set up. One of its leaders, Adiel Bar-Shalom, stated that a drive is currently under way to canvas support from among senior army officers, students and first-time voters.
The group “Professors for a Strong Israel” has called upon the National Union and the NRP to merge. Promininent religious-Zionist rabbis have made a similar call.
The professors called for non-observant candidates to be given prominent places on the list. They also appealed to the candidates in the Likud leadership contest to declare, before the party primaries, their intention to create a joint bloc of the national camp as an alternative to a possible Sharon-Peretz-Meretz alliance.
Former MK Yisrael Eichler (Agudat Yisrael) told Arutz-7 that he hopes to forge an understanding between the religious-Zionist and hareidi-religious parties to avoid the "divide and conquer" strategy Sharon used against them so successfully in 2003-5. "First of all," he said, "their mutual goal has to be not to agree to a blow against religious education and the Jewish settlements... The parties must also have a hotline between them via which to share information on what is being offered them and what is being threatened."
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Click Here! | | 5. Terrorism War Continues
|  | | By Hillel Fendel and Ezra HaLevi
Over the past 24 hours, a terrorist attack was foiled, Kassam rockets were fired, firebombs were hurled, terrorists rioted, PA police fired on an IDF unit, and more.
| IDF forces arrested a prominent Islamic Jihad terrorist last night in the Shomron. He was planning a suicide attack in Israel for the next few days, after having been involved in the recent Hadera market attack in which six Jews were murdered. Another five terrorists were arrested along with him.
An IDF force uncovered, southwest of Jericho, four packages of submachine gun ammunition. Two fragmentation grenades and 1,000 bullets were found, and were safely detonated by IDF sappers.
PA police fired at an IDF undercover unit in Bethlehem, causing no injuries. The PA force claimed it mistook the Israelis for armed Arabs. The soldiers fired in the air, and another Israeli force arrived on the scene and helped them escape.
Islamic Jihad prisoners in an Israeli prison rioted Monday night, protesting the transfer of one of their number to another jail. Thirty soldiers and jailers were injured, and two Arabs were taken to a hospital.
On Monday, Kassam rockets fired from PA-controlled Gaza slammed into a field near a southern Israeli community. No injuries resulted and the IDF offered no response. Later in the day, another barrage of rocket fire resulted in one rocket damaging a home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Miraculously, no injuries resulted, as the parents were visiting neighbors and the children had just entered the home as the rocket struck the front yard. Members of the kibbutz were outraged that the government's Red Dawn early-warning system failed to go off prior to the rockets' impact.
The IDF responded with 40 rounds of artillery fire toward some of the northern Gaza launch sites. IDF officials admitted that there are orders not to "escalate" ahead of the PA elections in January. IDF top brass have told Knesset committees repeatedly in recent months that the planning of terror attacks and planting of bombs have continued and increased steadily since the Gaza withdrawal.
Monday afternoon an IDF officer was wounded during an Arab riot in Beit Lakia, west of Ramallah. The officer was hit in the face by a rock and evacuated from the scene and hospitalized.
Monday evening a bomb was thrown at IDF forces at the Beit Merkachat Junction in Hevron, near the Cave of the Patriarchs. No injuries were reported in the attack and IDF forces gave chase to the terrorist.
An Israeli motorist was targeted in a firebomb attack while traveling in Gush Etzion on Route 60 - north of Efrat, near el-Khader Junction. No injuries were reported.
Four firebombs were hurled at the Dor gas station on the main road connecting Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim. No injuries were reported.
An Arab baby was lightly injured in an apparently mistaken rock-throwing attack on a car on the Jerusalem-Hevron highway. The attack took place near the village of Beit Omar, where there has been a recent rise in attacks against Jewish-owned vehicles.
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| | 6. Terrorists Join PA Security Forces
|  | | By Naomi Grossman
Senior figures in the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade have announced that the Palestinian Authority has agreed to accept more than 2500 of their members into the PA security forces.
| Fatah factions are trying to unite the forces into an honor guard for the sake of the “armed struggle.”
Al Aksa has strengthened its political power as a faction within Fatah during the run-up to elections to the Palestinian parliament, scheduled for January 2006.
In an interview with the press, one of the senior officers of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Khaled al-Jaaberi, stated that the Palestinian Authority has agreed to absorb 2500 terrorists from the Gaza Strip within the ranks of its security forces. This agreement was reached after prolonged negotiations, during which it was decided that the terrorists would be chosen from every faction within Fatah, including the Abu Raish brigades. Preference would be given for wounded terrorists and “humanitarian cases.”
Over the past few months, the PA security forces have been recruiting Al Aksa members from throughout the authority and Judea, but from northern Samaria in particular.
The Palestinian Authority hopes that this will enable it to deal with the challenges posed by Hamas as the elections approach.
Jaaberi also stated that the armed Fatah brigades are continuing with negotiations to unite the various factions in an “honor guard” that will represent the “resistance” and wage the struggle for “the liberation of the rest of the Palestinian land in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.”
In political terms, the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades are reorganizing to become a strong force within Fatah, with the intent of pushing out the “Old Guard,” replacing them with a “new generation.” Last week, the Brigades did very well in pre-elections within Fatah itself. The leader of the Tanzim, Marwan Barghouti, currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail for murder, also made significant gains.
Hamas, on the other hand, continues to present itself as a government alternative. It has denied rumors that it has agreed to allow terrorists from its armed Izzadin al-Kassam brigade to join the PA security forces. Hamas has certain preconditions for this, such as organizing elections to the PA parliament and setting up a national army dedicated to the struggle against Israel. Hamas prefers to maintain its own military wing in order to restrain the Palestinian Authority’s attempts to prevent it from taking over the PA government.
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| |
| 7. Sit-In Strike Begins in Jerusalem
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
A sit-in strike is being held outside the government complex, unlimited in time, to demand solutions for the socio-economic problems of the Gush Katif expellees.
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Tzvika Slonim of Kedumim, a veteran of large-scale public protests against left-wing government policies, has organized this one as well. "It took us ten days to get a permit for the protest, but now we have started," he told Arutz-7. "We are protesting against the closed-heartedness of the Prime Minister and the government ministers, who knew very well how to uproot the residents of Gush Katif and northern Shomron, but are not taking proper care of them now, more than three months later, when we see that the situation is catastrophic."
"As a long-time family and communal social worker," Slonim said, "I can say clearly that this is going to be an open wound for the next 3-10 years. So many people live in very difficult conditions, and their hotel rooms have become like jails for them. Many children are not set up in schools, many are showing signs of distress and disturbances - though they never had a trace of this in the past - and there are families and couples that are breaking apart. The difficulties are tremendous. I'm telling you, this will be a great stain on Israeli society, if it is not taken care of immediately, and that's what we're demanding."
"True, the government is planning [communities] and the like, but that's for three years from now. For now, they should be in places where they can live like people, not in tiny places where they can't fit in their table and chairs. There must be a framework of social workers who can help the dozens of children who are in real distress and who aren't in schools because they have been torn away from their communities... People don't know where their belongings are - or if they do, when they go to get them, they have to pay... or they find them destroyed."
"We're also calling upon the public, and especially the liberal sector - even if they favored the disengagement, I'm sure their heart is open to their brothers' plight; why haven't we heard from them in any way - a play or a song or something depicting the hardships they face?"
Slonim said that in order to be considered an official sit-in striker, one must take part in the protest for three days. "But even those who can't remain for that long, are invited to come and visit, even if just for an hour or two."
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| | 8. David Duke in Syria: Zionists Occupy Washington, NY and London
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
White supremacist David Duke visited Syria last week to support Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad and the Arab state’s hostile stance toward Israel.
| Duke attended a rally that was broadcast on Syrian state-run television. He condemned Israel as a war-mongering country and said that the “Zionists occupy New York.”
“I come from the peace-loving people in America to the peace-loving people of Syria,” Duke said. “I come from the peace-loving people in America to your great peace-loving President of Syria.”
Each of Duke’s proclamations were repeated in Arabic by a translator, at which point the camera provided an alternate angle showing a crowd of Syrians waving cardboard flags and cheering on cue. Following Duke’s statement praising Assad, the crowd was shown chanting, “Our soul and our blood we will sacrifice for you, Bashar.”
“It saddens my heart to tell you that part of my country is occupied by Zionists," Duke said, "just as part of your country, the Golan Heights, is occupied by Zionists. [They] occupy most of the American media and now control much of the American government…It is not just the West Bank of Palestine, it is not just the Golan Heights that are occupied by the Zionists, but Washington D.C. and New York and London and many other capitals of the world.”
“Your fight for freedom is the same as our fight for freedom,” Duke proclaimed, adding that it is the Zionists who prefer war over peace. He said that people around the world will tell them, “No war for Israel” [in reference to the claim that the United States is in Iraq on Israel’s behalf -ed]. Duke tried to lead the local demonstrators in an English chant of “No war for Israel.”
Duke, a former “Grand Wizard” in the Ku Klux Klan, was elected to the Louisiana Legislature in 1989, but failed in subsequent election bids.
Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash said that Duke’s visit gave Syrians a “new and very positive view of the average American.”
The video, with subtitles provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute, can be viewed by clicking here.
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