MK Sha'ul Yahalom, Knesset faction leader of the National Religious Party, also spoke this morning about Prime Minister's Herzliya speech:
"Sharon did not say much that was new, because the analysts predicted for a week beforehand what he would say. The surprise is in his terrible change of approach. He was always the symbol of the right-wing margin, both theoretically and practically; many of the towns in Yesha in which we take such pride today are his doing. Yet now, he is saying that even without a true peace agreement on the horizon, he is willing to uproot communities and make a unilateral withdrawal."
Yahalom here made a parenthetical remark that Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo did not let slip by. Yahalom said that if there were really to be a true peace agreement, "something that I do not see happening in the coming decades, because we have no one with whom to make it," then, "whoever thinks that we will not have to make painful concessions is simply hiding his head in the sand." Shilo asked pointedly if he was referring to the uprooting of Jewish communities, and Yahalom responded,
"I don't know, I don't deal in hypothetical questions. I'm just saying that for true genuine peace, we will have to make sacrifices - I don't know if it's communities, or a Palestinian state, I'm just saying that I could understand Arik Sharon if there were true peace. But now? There's no chance for peace, and terrorism is still strong, and yet unilaterally he wants to give territories and communities to the same people who are not stopping the terrorism! This is simply intolerable, it's impossible to even hear such a thing, and we have to do everything we can to stop it."
Yahalom said that the reason the NRP cannot commit to quitting the government at this stage is because Labor will quickly take its place: "The very same day that we quit, Labor will run into the government with open arms and great joy, with Shimon Peres receiving the portfolio responsible for negotiations with the Palestinian Authority." Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo said, "It's not so simple. Do you think the Likud ministers will give up their positions on behalf of their Labor colleagues? Do you see Mofaz being asked to give up the Defense Ministry?" Yahalom responded that Sharon, Olmert and Peres would do much to compromise in order to get such a government started.
Yahalom also blamed the Manhigut Yehudit [Jewish Leadership] faction of the Likud, headed by Moshe Feiglin, for taking away votes that would have gone to the NRP and the National Union, and giving them to the Likud.
Feiglin himself then spoke with Arutz-7, and said,
"I believe that this virtual reality that Sharon is trying to build will collapse of itself. There are political limitations, but I believe that Manhigut Yehudit has captured the best position in order to stop it. You should see the tremendous efforts that Sharon and company are making to try and stop our latest initiative - namely, our proposal that any Likud MK who votes against a position adopted by the Likud Central Committee will not be able to run for Knesset on the Likud list in the next election. If this rule had been in effect a few months ago, the Road Map plan would never have passed the Cabinet - because no Likud Cabinet minister would have wanted to remove himself from the next Knesset by voting in favor of it."
Feiglin said that the above proposal would be debated in the coming Central Committee session, which will begin on January 5 and will continue in various forms for some two months: "Sharon and his party institutions are trying to prevent the proposal from even being raised, but it will be raised. Many MKs and ministers, such as Tzachi HaNegbi, support it."
Feiglin continued,
"It's important to understand what is driving Sharon to present this new plan, which, as I said, is bound to fail of its own accord. His only motivation here is personal political survival, with no strategic value - even from a left-wing point of view, it will bring nothing, as Prof. Eldad said so precisely. Sharon's only goal is to survive, so he figures that by turning against those whom the left-wing hates - the Yesha residents, and the hareidim to some extent - he will get the left-wing to stop bothering him...
"I am optimistic, however, because the spirit in the settlement enterprise is so strong; when I look at the people in Netzarim and Migron, I see that they are so much stronger in spirit than [MK] Omri Sharon [the Prime Minister's son] and his ilk, and even more than MK Sha'ul Yahalom, whose weakness we also just heard...
"People in the NRP and the Likud have admitted to us that we [the Likud faction of Manhigut Yehudit] are in the best strategic position to fight against Sharon's plan. The basic starting point of the right-wing and religious parties is provincial and ineffective; they have not yet realized that the real playing field is within the ruling party of the nationalist camp."
Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo interrupted: "You have your approach, but do you think that we can and should give up on the smaller parties, or is your activity a supplement and addition to theirs? Your group has not even managed to get into the Knesset. It's true that it was the Supreme Court that banned you, but even if you would have gotten in, so OK, there would have been one voice like yours - but you would not be able to fill all the political functions that the NRP and National Union do!"
Feiglin: "This is precisely the point, precisely the point. Note all the efforts by the Supreme Court and the left-wing to prevent me, Moshe Feiglin, #39 on the Likud list, from entering the Knesset - and yet still, Manhigut Yehudit - with no MKs - is more able to prevent the steps taken by the Prime Minister than any other group, including Cabinet ministers. This is what we hear from right-wing and NRP MKs. This shows that we are on the right playing field. By the way, it's simply inaccurate to say that we took votes away from the nationalist camp and gave them to the Likud; the facts simply indicate otherwise... We have to play on the playing field of the leadership of the nationalist camp, with our end goal not to be the leadership of a sector, but rather of the entire nation."
"Sharon did not say much that was new, because the analysts predicted for a week beforehand what he would say. The surprise is in his terrible change of approach. He was always the symbol of the right-wing margin, both theoretically and practically; many of the towns in Yesha in which we take such pride today are his doing. Yet now, he is saying that even without a true peace agreement on the horizon, he is willing to uproot communities and make a unilateral withdrawal."
Yahalom here made a parenthetical remark that Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo did not let slip by. Yahalom said that if there were really to be a true peace agreement, "something that I do not see happening in the coming decades, because we have no one with whom to make it," then, "whoever thinks that we will not have to make painful concessions is simply hiding his head in the sand." Shilo asked pointedly if he was referring to the uprooting of Jewish communities, and Yahalom responded,
"I don't know, I don't deal in hypothetical questions. I'm just saying that for true genuine peace, we will have to make sacrifices - I don't know if it's communities, or a Palestinian state, I'm just saying that I could understand Arik Sharon if there were true peace. But now? There's no chance for peace, and terrorism is still strong, and yet unilaterally he wants to give territories and communities to the same people who are not stopping the terrorism! This is simply intolerable, it's impossible to even hear such a thing, and we have to do everything we can to stop it."
Yahalom said that the reason the NRP cannot commit to quitting the government at this stage is because Labor will quickly take its place: "The very same day that we quit, Labor will run into the government with open arms and great joy, with Shimon Peres receiving the portfolio responsible for negotiations with the Palestinian Authority." Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo said, "It's not so simple. Do you think the Likud ministers will give up their positions on behalf of their Labor colleagues? Do you see Mofaz being asked to give up the Defense Ministry?" Yahalom responded that Sharon, Olmert and Peres would do much to compromise in order to get such a government started.
Yahalom also blamed the Manhigut Yehudit [Jewish Leadership] faction of the Likud, headed by Moshe Feiglin, for taking away votes that would have gone to the NRP and the National Union, and giving them to the Likud.
Feiglin himself then spoke with Arutz-7, and said,
"I believe that this virtual reality that Sharon is trying to build will collapse of itself. There are political limitations, but I believe that Manhigut Yehudit has captured the best position in order to stop it. You should see the tremendous efforts that Sharon and company are making to try and stop our latest initiative - namely, our proposal that any Likud MK who votes against a position adopted by the Likud Central Committee will not be able to run for Knesset on the Likud list in the next election. If this rule had been in effect a few months ago, the Road Map plan would never have passed the Cabinet - because no Likud Cabinet minister would have wanted to remove himself from the next Knesset by voting in favor of it."
Feiglin said that the above proposal would be debated in the coming Central Committee session, which will begin on January 5 and will continue in various forms for some two months: "Sharon and his party institutions are trying to prevent the proposal from even being raised, but it will be raised. Many MKs and ministers, such as Tzachi HaNegbi, support it."
Feiglin continued,
"It's important to understand what is driving Sharon to present this new plan, which, as I said, is bound to fail of its own accord. His only motivation here is personal political survival, with no strategic value - even from a left-wing point of view, it will bring nothing, as Prof. Eldad said so precisely. Sharon's only goal is to survive, so he figures that by turning against those whom the left-wing hates - the Yesha residents, and the hareidim to some extent - he will get the left-wing to stop bothering him...
"I am optimistic, however, because the spirit in the settlement enterprise is so strong; when I look at the people in Netzarim and Migron, I see that they are so much stronger in spirit than [MK] Omri Sharon [the Prime Minister's son] and his ilk, and even more than MK Sha'ul Yahalom, whose weakness we also just heard...
"People in the NRP and the Likud have admitted to us that we [the Likud faction of Manhigut Yehudit] are in the best strategic position to fight against Sharon's plan. The basic starting point of the right-wing and religious parties is provincial and ineffective; they have not yet realized that the real playing field is within the ruling party of the nationalist camp."
Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo interrupted: "You have your approach, but do you think that we can and should give up on the smaller parties, or is your activity a supplement and addition to theirs? Your group has not even managed to get into the Knesset. It's true that it was the Supreme Court that banned you, but even if you would have gotten in, so OK, there would have been one voice like yours - but you would not be able to fill all the political functions that the NRP and National Union do!"
Feiglin: "This is precisely the point, precisely the point. Note all the efforts by the Supreme Court and the left-wing to prevent me, Moshe Feiglin, #39 on the Likud list, from entering the Knesset - and yet still, Manhigut Yehudit - with no MKs - is more able to prevent the steps taken by the Prime Minister than any other group, including Cabinet ministers. This is what we hear from right-wing and NRP MKs. This shows that we are on the right playing field. By the way, it's simply inaccurate to say that we took votes away from the nationalist camp and gave them to the Likud; the facts simply indicate otherwise... We have to play on the playing field of the leadership of the nationalist camp, with our end goal not to be the leadership of a sector, but rather of the entire nation."