The Likud Central Committee will convene this Sunday in Tel Aviv, and first on the agenda will be the issue of opposition to establishing a new Palestinian state. The debate, coming on the heels of a decision this past January by the smaller Likud Board to oppose such a state, is seen as a challenge to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharon has stated his support numerous times for a limited Palestinian state.
Moshe Feiglin, who heads the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction in the Likud, warns that Sharon will try to get the party to pass a \"compromise\" resolution stating that “a Palestinian state is not on the agenda at the moment.\" Feiglin adamantly rejects this:
\"The meaning of this suggestion is that the idea of a Palestinian state is fundamentally correct and appropriate, and all that remains is to find the right time to implement it. We hope that the Central Committee members who strongly object to a Palestinian state will not fall into this trap, and we will do all we can in order to ensure that they are aware of this…\"
Other opponents of a Palestinian state cite Yasser Arafat\'s own Fatah website \"www.fateh.net/e_editor/01/311201.htm\", which states, \"A legitimate Palestinian entity forms the most important weapon that Arabs have against Israel.\" The article, an editorial in honor of Fatah\'s 37th anniversary, implies clearly that the PLO has \"current\" goals and \"next-stage\" goals:
\"[T]he specified goals of the current stage... are the liberation of the 1967-occupied territories, the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the implementation of the right of return, and the removal of the Israeli settlements.\"
Moshe Feiglin, who heads the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction in the Likud, warns that Sharon will try to get the party to pass a \"compromise\" resolution stating that “a Palestinian state is not on the agenda at the moment.\" Feiglin adamantly rejects this:
\"The meaning of this suggestion is that the idea of a Palestinian state is fundamentally correct and appropriate, and all that remains is to find the right time to implement it. We hope that the Central Committee members who strongly object to a Palestinian state will not fall into this trap, and we will do all we can in order to ensure that they are aware of this…\"
Other opponents of a Palestinian state cite Yasser Arafat\'s own Fatah website \"www.fateh.net/e_editor/01/311201.htm\", which states, \"A legitimate Palestinian entity forms the most important weapon that Arabs have against Israel.\" The article, an editorial in honor of Fatah\'s 37th anniversary, implies clearly that the PLO has \"current\" goals and \"next-stage\" goals:
\"[T]he specified goals of the current stage... are the liberation of the 1967-occupied territories, the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the implementation of the right of return, and the removal of the Israeli settlements.\"