The heads of the two religious-Zionist parties in the Knesset, MK Yaakov Katz and Cabinet Minister Rabbi Daniel Herskovitz, held a press conference this afternoon to announce progress in the merging of the two.

Katz (Ketzaleh) heads the opposition National Union party, with four Knesset Members. Herskovitz, a rabbi and a Ph.D., heads the Jewish Home, a member of the coalition with three MKs. The two announced that “in recognition of the importance of unity in the religious-Zionist, traditional and nationalist sector, MKs of the two parties have held meetings of late.”

Ketzaleh said, "Wherever I go, I'm asked how it is that the religious-Zionist public, which leads in so many fields, is unable to unify politically." He said that in the coming days, members of both parties will meet to decide the technical arrangements of fielding two parties on one list.

This past March, MKs of both parties toured national religious centers in Jerusalem together, followed by announcements of their intention to work towards unity between their parties. Several weeks later, Katz hosted Jewish Home MK Uri Orbach in Beit El. The two met with students in the Ra’ayah Girls High School and the Beit El Yeshiva, as well as with Rabbi Zalman Melamed, one of the leading rabbinical figures in the religious-Zionist sector. There, too, ways were discussed to merge or unify the two parties so as to form one list for the upcoming elections.

Ketzaleh said during the Beit El visit, “We recognize that the fact that we ran separately in the last elections was a big mistake, and we must correct that… We must win at least 10 MKs [in the next elections] so that we can become a relevant force on the Israeli political landscape… Most of the MKs in both factions believe that we must run together next time, and Uri and I are pressuring for this with full force.”

One of those who is not so excited about the idea is MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union. Though a fierce Land of Israel loyalist and next-door neighbor of party colleague MK Uri Ariel in Kfar Adumim in the Jordan Valley, he is not religiously observant. "There is no significance of a unity announcement today," he said, "because they're in the coalition and we're in the opposition."

MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) represents the more "extreme right" end of the nationalist camp, as opposed to MK Zevulun Orlev of the Jewish Home, who is on the other end. Neither of them are thrilled at the prospects of unity. Ben-Ari said today that "unity is important, but the Jewish Home must leave the construction-freeze government that is bringing destruction."

Overcoming History
Though the religious Zionist camp has had at least two separate parties in almost every Knesset since 1981, the split in the current Knesset is all the more jarring because it followed months of fruitless pre-election efforts for unity. The National Religious Party and the National Union, which had run on a joint list in 2006, agreed to disband for the purpose of forming the new “Jewish Home” party in late 2008, and an agreed-upon body of 39 leading religious-Zionists was to select the party leader and Knesset candidates. However, the more hawkish members felt alienated by several decisions made in quick succession by the body – especially the formulation of a “top ten” list of Knesset candidates that did not, in the National Union’s eyes, fairly mirror the balance of power in the outgoing Knesset, in which the NRP had three MKs and the NU twice as many.

As a result, the former National Union MKs left the Jewish Home, re-created its party, and asked Ketzaleh to lead them. He has long called for renewed efforts to unify the ranks, and Orbach and others have joined him in recent months.