The Likud is still winning in the polls, but party activists fear that it is losing ground to smaller parties to its right. Likud's latest public call: “Don’t vote for small parties; instead, strengthen the nationalist camp leader.”
At least one grassroots movement, however, is saying that the Likud is no longer that leader, because it does not actively oppose a Palestinian state.
An internal Likud memo regarding press interviews and party messages states that if an interviewee is asked about the polls, the answer should be along these lines: “According to all surveys, the Likud is consistently shown to be the winner and the party that will form the next government. It is important that the public give strength to the large party and thus enable a stable regime to run the country, instead of being dependent upon smaller parties.”
Mattot Arim: Likud can't lead nationalist camp, because it does not actively oppose a Palestinian state.
However, states a Mattot Arim (literally: "city action committees") press release, the supporters of the very camp that the Likud claims to lead do not consider the Likud their leader – because “the Likud is wishy-washy on the issue of a Palestinian state.”
“The main issue of this campaign,” states Mattot Arim, “is whether a party supports or opposes a Palestinian state. A Palestinian state will bring Tel Aviv and environs into rocket range – exactly as Ashdod, Sderot and Be’er Sheva are now. And most of the Likud candidates in realistic spots do not oppose a Palestinian state at all.”
Mattot Arim is planning to release findings of the positions of the various nationalist parties regarding a Palestinian state. “Preliminary results indicate that the Likud shows the least opposition to a PA state,” the group says.
A poll taken on Sunday by Brain Base Institute for Channel 2 News, the day after the ceasefire, shows the Likud leading Kadima by a 31-23 margin, with Labor and Israel Our Home lagging behind with 15 and 13 seats, respectively.
Israel Our Home, headed by MK Avigdor Lieberman, is considered a nationalist party, but actually supports a Palestinian state. Its website outlining the party’s vision for national security states: “The only possible solution, in our opinion, is an exchange of territories and populations. The main point of this idea is a separation between the Jewish nation and the Arab nation, and the creation of a separate diplomatic framework for each. True, this requires a painful surgical operation, but this is the only solution....”
The National Union and the Jewish Home parties have come out clearly against a Palestinian state.