The Likud convention in Jerusalem last night was kicked off in a festive atmosphere as the Central Committee welcomed its many new members. Over half of the some 2,500 members were elected to their posts only this month, and the presence of many Yesha residents - largely from Moshe Feiglin's Jewish Leadership movement - was clearly felt. Catcalls interrupted Prime Minister Sharon's speech several times, especially when he repeated his willingness to make "painful concessions for peace." He later qualified his words by saying that it must be "true and full peace, in which the People of Israel will live in its land with full security, free of the threats of murder, in a Jewish and democratic state, whose capital is united and undivided Jerusalem."
Eli Landau, a confidante of Prime Minister Sharon, told Arutz-7 today, "Moshe Feiglin and his group have no place in the Likud." He admitted that the Jewish Leadership group had won their 125 delegates "fair and square, in a democratic manner," but said, "It's not genuine. They have no intention of remaining in the Likud, but only of taking control or of influencing the regime in the manner in which they have made clear."
Arutz-7's Haggai Segal responded, "Let's talk about the issues - the outposts, for instance. The Jewish Leadership group held signs last night against the outposts - but Sharon himself, when he was Foreign Minster under Binyamin Netanyahu, called to the residents of Yesha,
'Everyone there should get a move on! Run! Take over more hilltops! Expand the area! Whatever is taken, will be in our hands; whatever we don't take, will be in their hands.'..."
Landau responded rather indirectly: "[A top Yesha leader] told me recently that there is 'no solution' [to the Israeli-Arab conflict]... I cannot accept this, because we cannot transfer the three million Palestinians across the Jordan River… When Sharon talks of making painful concessions, he means that our dreams of Greater Land of Israel will not be able to be fulfilled, and that there must be an arrangement such that two peoples can live here."
"He means that Yesha communities must be uprooted?" asked Segal.
"He means, also, to make order in the area," Landau answered carefully. He said that Sharon is hoping for a more "normal" Arab leadership "that will be able to come to an arrangement - otherwise there will be another 100 years of war…"
Segal: "What you are saying is very similar to what the left-wing said several years ago…"
Landau: "Menachem Begin once said that he would live in a Sinai community- but he later evacuated the area… Things change, and he decided to try for as long of a period of peace as possible…"
Segal: "But you know that Arik Sharon himself apologized for uprooting the city of Yamit [in Sinai, in the framework of the peace agreement with Egypt in 1982], even after several years of peace with Egypt."
Landau: "My opinion is that the evacuation of Yamit is what afforded us the peace with Egypt; I don't have to agree with him on everything..."
Segal: "How do you explain the fact that the Likud, at its last convention, voted against a Palestinian state, yet Sharon, as leader of the party, simply ignores that decision?"
Landau: "…The convention made the decision [against Sharon's position,] but in the end Sharon came out the victor, because the public stood behind him in his stand against the Central Committee - because the public realized that declarations of that sort contribute nothing. That decision should not have been made, and --"
Segal: "But it was accepted democratically?"
Landau: "True, [but] in the end, we will see who will the election. The winner will be someone from the center who will find worthy solutions for this land."
Segal: "Maybe in fact Sharon and the Likud are no longer a match? Perhaps Sharon should start a new Centrist party, and maybe he'll be elected that way?"
Landau: "Make no mistake: The Likud, of which I am a long-time member, is a centrist party, and that's why it has the majority. The majority of the population is not the right-wing of Feiglin, nor the left-wing of Sarid, but rather in the middle. The Likud, together with Labor, forms the centrist majority that will be able to bring us an arrangement, with concessions, that will bring peace for a relatively long time - if there really exists such a solution..."
Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson notes that the motions that the Jewish Leadership movement plans to submit at the "centrist" Likud Party convention include calls to:
* actualize Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount;
* annex all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha);
* nullify the Oslo Accords;
* prevent all P.A. trade, aid, and supplies until it gives up all weapons and turns over all the terrorists;
* provide aid to Arabs of Yesha who wish to leave;
* legislate laws stipulating that the appointment of judges and public service officials be carried out openly and democratically;
* make drastic cuts in public spending and gradually end American financial aid; and
* ban all Likud MKs except for the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister from setting foot on American soil until Pollard is freed.
Eli Landau, a confidante of Prime Minister Sharon, told Arutz-7 today, "Moshe Feiglin and his group have no place in the Likud." He admitted that the Jewish Leadership group had won their 125 delegates "fair and square, in a democratic manner," but said, "It's not genuine. They have no intention of remaining in the Likud, but only of taking control or of influencing the regime in the manner in which they have made clear."
Arutz-7's Haggai Segal responded, "Let's talk about the issues - the outposts, for instance. The Jewish Leadership group held signs last night against the outposts - but Sharon himself, when he was Foreign Minster under Binyamin Netanyahu, called to the residents of Yesha,
'Everyone there should get a move on! Run! Take over more hilltops! Expand the area! Whatever is taken, will be in our hands; whatever we don't take, will be in their hands.'..."
Landau responded rather indirectly: "[A top Yesha leader] told me recently that there is 'no solution' [to the Israeli-Arab conflict]... I cannot accept this, because we cannot transfer the three million Palestinians across the Jordan River… When Sharon talks of making painful concessions, he means that our dreams of Greater Land of Israel will not be able to be fulfilled, and that there must be an arrangement such that two peoples can live here."
"He means that Yesha communities must be uprooted?" asked Segal.
"He means, also, to make order in the area," Landau answered carefully. He said that Sharon is hoping for a more "normal" Arab leadership "that will be able to come to an arrangement - otherwise there will be another 100 years of war…"
Segal: "What you are saying is very similar to what the left-wing said several years ago…"
Landau: "Menachem Begin once said that he would live in a Sinai community- but he later evacuated the area… Things change, and he decided to try for as long of a period of peace as possible…"
Segal: "But you know that Arik Sharon himself apologized for uprooting the city of Yamit [in Sinai, in the framework of the peace agreement with Egypt in 1982], even after several years of peace with Egypt."
Landau: "My opinion is that the evacuation of Yamit is what afforded us the peace with Egypt; I don't have to agree with him on everything..."
Segal: "How do you explain the fact that the Likud, at its last convention, voted against a Palestinian state, yet Sharon, as leader of the party, simply ignores that decision?"
Landau: "…The convention made the decision [against Sharon's position,] but in the end Sharon came out the victor, because the public stood behind him in his stand against the Central Committee - because the public realized that declarations of that sort contribute nothing. That decision should not have been made, and --"
Segal: "But it was accepted democratically?"
Landau: "True, [but] in the end, we will see who will the election. The winner will be someone from the center who will find worthy solutions for this land."
Segal: "Maybe in fact Sharon and the Likud are no longer a match? Perhaps Sharon should start a new Centrist party, and maybe he'll be elected that way?"
Landau: "Make no mistake: The Likud, of which I am a long-time member, is a centrist party, and that's why it has the majority. The majority of the population is not the right-wing of Feiglin, nor the left-wing of Sarid, but rather in the middle. The Likud, together with Labor, forms the centrist majority that will be able to bring us an arrangement, with concessions, that will bring peace for a relatively long time - if there really exists such a solution..."
Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson notes that the motions that the Jewish Leadership movement plans to submit at the "centrist" Likud Party convention include calls to:
* actualize Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount;
* annex all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha);
* nullify the Oslo Accords;
* prevent all P.A. trade, aid, and supplies until it gives up all weapons and turns over all the terrorists;
* provide aid to Arabs of Yesha who wish to leave;
* legislate laws stipulating that the appointment of judges and public service officials be carried out openly and democratically;
* make drastic cuts in public spending and gradually end American financial aid; and
* ban all Likud MKs except for the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister from setting foot on American soil until Pollard is freed.