Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party have taken the unique step of releasing a "party platform" in between national elections - in what some see as not only a promotional endeavor, but also a well-timed political ploy.

Named the party's "vision," the paper begins by terming itself a "sincere and genuine effort to present Yisrael Beiteinu's outlook, without using worn out phrases or vague terminology that leave room for misunderstandings."

The paper deals with issues such as the clash between Islam and the West, personal and national security for Israelis, the expulsion and unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, Israeli economics, education, the Jewish character of the State, and more.

Released as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is negotiating with Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas the terms of an Israeli withdrawal from nearly all of Judea and Samaria, the paper appears to be an attempt by Yisrael Beiteinu to curb Olmert politically.  However, the party only has two ministers in the Cabinet, and will therefore not be able to vote down Olmert's proposals. 

In addition, Yisrael Beiteinu's 11 Knesset Members are not a critical force in the coalition.  The current Kadima-led coalition has five parties and a total of 77 MKs; the loss of 11 would still leave the coalition with a comfortable majority of the Knesset's 120 members.

Pressure to leave the coalition is being brought to bear upon the 11-member Shas party as well.  However, Shas appears to have no plans to vote against the coalition at this point.

Among the main points of the Yisrael Beiteinu document is that the "principle of 'land for peace' is mistaken and misleading... and will lead to certain failure."

"The assumption that the root of Israeli-Arab dispute is territorial," the report continues, "stems from the hope that an era of peace can finally be brought about via Israeli territorial concessions.  This conception does not jibe with our accumulated experience, however... as can be seen from the two latest instances in which we ceded territory down to the last grain of sand - in Lebanon and Gaza.  Not only do territorial concessions not bring peace, they actually lead directly to an escalation of terrorism."

This mistaken conception, writes Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman, the Minister for Strategic Affairs, leads to basic errors in Israel's foreign policy.  "Israel must explain its positions on an intellectual level, and not with Messianic slogans such as 'Not one inch.'  Israel must explain [for instance] that the anti-Israeli positions led by the leaders of Israel, and which are prevalent in many Western circles as well, are a direct carry-over from classic anti-Semitism."

"Israel must explain that the demand for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the 'right of return' are a camouflage of the attempt by extremist Islam to destroy the State of Israel. It must explain that their demand for self-definition is just a way of prettifying this, and that 'two states for two peoples' does not mean one and a half states for one people [the Arabs] and half a state for the other." 

Yisrael Beiteinu has long favored an exchange of territory assigning Israeli-Arab population centers to a Palestinian state to solve the Israeli-Arab dispute.  The document cites Cyprus and the exchange of populations there as an example: "In the early 70's, the intermingling of Turks and Greeks created constant friction that developed in time into a dispute saturated with blood and suffering.  But since 1974, when the two nations were separated, with the Turks being concentrated on one side of the island and the Greeks on the other, life has returned to normal.  True, there is no peace agreement, but there is security, stability, and growth.  If we, too, would have that - it would be sufficient."

Lieberman repeats the frequently-repeated position that the Arabs' dispute with Israel is not the main expression of Islam's struggle against the West. 

What should be done about the incessant firing of Kassam rockets at Sderot and the western Negev? Lieberman has an answer: Israel should "hit" Rimal, a wealthy neighborhood in Gaza, every time Sderot is rocketed, "at least to the same extent that Sderot is hit."  He also implies that Israel should stop supplying electricity, water, fuel, port services and other resources to Gaza.