Attention now turns to the Likud Party race, to be held eight days from now, between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and Moshe Feiglin. This morning it was Netanyahu who came out swinging. Speaking on Israeli Radio, Netanyahu slammed Sharon for his repeated support for a Palestinian state, saying he sees no real differences between Sharon and Amram Mitzna in their policies towards the PLO. "The real race is not between Likud and Labor," Netanyahu said today, "but rather within the Likud. The party membership will have to decide whether they want a Palestinian state or not."
Netanyahu also surprised many by saying that should he lose in the primaries, he would refuse to join a Sharon-led government unless the Prime Minister abandons his support for an official Palestinian entity. Aviv Bushinsky, press advisor to Netanyahu, told Arutz-7 today that, contrary to popular perception, "the polls show that Sharon's lead over Netanyahu is narrowing. A survey conducted by TV journalist Nissim Mishal, who is not known to be a Netanyahu sympathizer, shows that the gap is only 7%, while a survey of our own shows that it's 6%. The number of undecideds is over 20%. This is a real battle, not over the polls, but over the solutions that each one offers."
Bushinsky said that Netanyahu has been consistent in his stance against a Palestinian state: "If you recall, Arafat threatened to declare a state in the United Nations in 1998, and Netanyahu threatened clearly that if he declares a state, he would annex Yesha..." Asked about the autonomous entity that Netanyahu was willing to offer the Palestinians, Bushinsky explained that this is "an entity without the ability to make treaties or to bring in weapons, while if they are a bona-fide state, we will not be able to enter at will as we do today..."
Netanyahu also surprised many by saying that should he lose in the primaries, he would refuse to join a Sharon-led government unless the Prime Minister abandons his support for an official Palestinian entity. Aviv Bushinsky, press advisor to Netanyahu, told Arutz-7 today that, contrary to popular perception, "the polls show that Sharon's lead over Netanyahu is narrowing. A survey conducted by TV journalist Nissim Mishal, who is not known to be a Netanyahu sympathizer, shows that the gap is only 7%, while a survey of our own shows that it's 6%. The number of undecideds is over 20%. This is a real battle, not over the polls, but over the solutions that each one offers."
Bushinsky said that Netanyahu has been consistent in his stance against a Palestinian state: "If you recall, Arafat threatened to declare a state in the United Nations in 1998, and Netanyahu threatened clearly that if he declares a state, he would annex Yesha..." Asked about the autonomous entity that Netanyahu was willing to offer the Palestinians, Bushinsky explained that this is "an entity without the ability to make treaties or to bring in weapons, while if they are a bona-fide state, we will not be able to enter at will as we do today..."