MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union), one of the Knesset's most stalwart opponents of the Sharon unilateral-withdrawal plan, spoke with Arutz-7 yesterday about the Americans' "rejection" of the plan:
"I saw an article saying that the Americans have set all sorts of conditions, such as the date, where we can re-settle the residents, an internal discussion in the Likud, etc., etc. This is a total humiliation for the State of Israel; maybe we should hold US elections here as well? This type of situation, where we invite the Americans to be so totally involved in what we do, never existed under any of the left-wing governments. But we, the right-wing, are foolish enough to do this...
"After all, what's going on here? Sharon knows that this unilateral withdrawal business is totally insane, and brings absolutely no benefit to Israel. So what does he do? Because some Likud ministers [such as Binyamin Netanyahu - ed. note] asked, 'What will we get for it in return?', he therefore runs to the Americans, and all over the world, to find some kind of something that we can get out of this. He knows that we won't get peace and an end to terrorism out of this, so he goes begging to the Americans, 'Please, give me something that I can present as having received in exchange - maybe I can annex another Yesha town, or maybe some money instead, or maybe some strategic alliance...' - we're just groveling.
"The Americans are looking out for their interests, but we're not looking out for ours - which are very clear: a total erasure of the terrorist infrastructure and the Palestinian Authority, and not the expulsion of Jews from their homes."
MK Hendel is adamant that the nationalist parties must work to end Prime Minister Sharon's term in office:
"He must resign, period! This is because of the continued talking about this catastrophic plan and the working groups and the like - little by little it trickles down and does tremendous damage, to the army and to the officers and to the national consciousness.
"I know, with absolute certainty, what his motivations are for this plan to expel Jews from their land and their homes - and he must therefore not remain Prime Minister! It could very well be that all these accusations against him regarding the Greek island and Cyril Kern, etc., are really groundless - but I know that this is the sole motivation - there is no other motivation - for him to make this plan to expel Jews.
"We - the Nation Union faction in the Knesset, all the MKs - met with Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz this week, and we were astonished to hear that so many details of the plan have not yet been formulated. On every question we asked, he would say, 'We haven't yet discussed it' and the like. So we said to him, 'Don't you realize that the Prime Minister shot an arrow, and now all of you are running around trying to draw a target around it?'"
"In conclusion," Hendel said, "I want to just tell the listeners of Arutz-7: The People of Israel are strong, even if their Prime Minister is weak, and these evil plans will not stand! Gush Katif will remain in Jewish hands forever."
"I saw an article saying that the Americans have set all sorts of conditions, such as the date, where we can re-settle the residents, an internal discussion in the Likud, etc., etc. This is a total humiliation for the State of Israel; maybe we should hold US elections here as well? This type of situation, where we invite the Americans to be so totally involved in what we do, never existed under any of the left-wing governments. But we, the right-wing, are foolish enough to do this...
"After all, what's going on here? Sharon knows that this unilateral withdrawal business is totally insane, and brings absolutely no benefit to Israel. So what does he do? Because some Likud ministers [such as Binyamin Netanyahu - ed. note] asked, 'What will we get for it in return?', he therefore runs to the Americans, and all over the world, to find some kind of something that we can get out of this. He knows that we won't get peace and an end to terrorism out of this, so he goes begging to the Americans, 'Please, give me something that I can present as having received in exchange - maybe I can annex another Yesha town, or maybe some money instead, or maybe some strategic alliance...' - we're just groveling.
"The Americans are looking out for their interests, but we're not looking out for ours - which are very clear: a total erasure of the terrorist infrastructure and the Palestinian Authority, and not the expulsion of Jews from their homes."
MK Hendel is adamant that the nationalist parties must work to end Prime Minister Sharon's term in office:
"He must resign, period! This is because of the continued talking about this catastrophic plan and the working groups and the like - little by little it trickles down and does tremendous damage, to the army and to the officers and to the national consciousness.
"I know, with absolute certainty, what his motivations are for this plan to expel Jews from their land and their homes - and he must therefore not remain Prime Minister! It could very well be that all these accusations against him regarding the Greek island and Cyril Kern, etc., are really groundless - but I know that this is the sole motivation - there is no other motivation - for him to make this plan to expel Jews.
"We - the Nation Union faction in the Knesset, all the MKs - met with Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz this week, and we were astonished to hear that so many details of the plan have not yet been formulated. On every question we asked, he would say, 'We haven't yet discussed it' and the like. So we said to him, 'Don't you realize that the Prime Minister shot an arrow, and now all of you are running around trying to draw a target around it?'"
"In conclusion," Hendel said, "I want to just tell the listeners of Arutz-7: The People of Israel are strong, even if their Prime Minister is weak, and these evil plans will not stand! Gush Katif will remain in Jewish hands forever."