The 2,700 members of the Likud Party\'s Central Committee convened late this afternoon for a tense and dramatic meeting tonight in Tel Aviv\'s Heichal HaTarbut. On the agenda: A resolution against the establishment of any form of a Palestinian state, in direct opposition to the stated position of Prime Minister and party leader Ariel Sharon. Sharon\'s supporters are still trying to prevent the vote from taking place, but polls show that support for the resolution within the Central Committee is great. Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Sharon\'s chief competitor in the party, is opposed to a PLO state.
Education Minister Limor Livnat, whose star has risen under Sharon - she accompanied him to Washington last week and became Israel\'s chief spokesperson for the duration of the trip - proposed a compromise: a vote on the re-ratification of the entire Likud platform. The platform states,
\"The unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state will be a fundamental violation of the agreements with the State of Israel, and will mean the nullification of the Oslo and Wye Agreements… The State of Israel will not allow the establishment of an Arab Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. The Palestinians will be able to freely run their lives in the framework of self-rule and not of a sovereign independent country. For instance, their foreign relations, security, immigration, and ecological actions will be restricted in accordance with Israel\'s existential, defense, and national needs.\"
MK Eli Cohen, who submitted the original proposal against the PA state, told Arutz-7 today, \"The proposal has already been submitted, and it cannot be withdrawn. Only the Likud leader - Ariel Sharon - can submit another resolution, which I don\'t think he will do. He himself doesn\'t see a PA state as a real solution, because he knows that with all the restrictions on which he insists for such a state, the Arabs won\'t agree.\" Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin, a supporter of Sharon, said he hopes that Sharon will simply say, \"My children have defeated me\" and will accept the party decision against a PLO state.
Education Minister Limor Livnat, whose star has risen under Sharon - she accompanied him to Washington last week and became Israel\'s chief spokesperson for the duration of the trip - proposed a compromise: a vote on the re-ratification of the entire Likud platform. The platform states,
\"The unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state will be a fundamental violation of the agreements with the State of Israel, and will mean the nullification of the Oslo and Wye Agreements… The State of Israel will not allow the establishment of an Arab Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. The Palestinians will be able to freely run their lives in the framework of self-rule and not of a sovereign independent country. For instance, their foreign relations, security, immigration, and ecological actions will be restricted in accordance with Israel\'s existential, defense, and national needs.\"
MK Eli Cohen, who submitted the original proposal against the PA state, told Arutz-7 today, \"The proposal has already been submitted, and it cannot be withdrawn. Only the Likud leader - Ariel Sharon - can submit another resolution, which I don\'t think he will do. He himself doesn\'t see a PA state as a real solution, because he knows that with all the restrictions on which he insists for such a state, the Arabs won\'t agree.\" Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin, a supporter of Sharon, said he hopes that Sharon will simply say, \"My children have defeated me\" and will accept the party decision against a PLO state.