Sunday is the day. Close to 3,000 volunteers will begin visiting the homes of the close to 200,000 Likud members, in a personal effort to explain to them the dangers of the evacuation/expulsion plan from Jewish Gaza and northern Samaria. The Likud members will vote on May 2nd on the plan, and Prime Minister Sharon - and many other Cabinet ministers - say they will abide by the rank-and-file's decision.
The volunteers are being organized by various task forces and teams that have arisen to fight what Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal has called the "evil evacuation scheme." The prime forces behind the effort are the Yesha Council (the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza) and the Gush Katif communities themselves. Close to 8,500 people living in Gush Katif and the northern Shomron are slated to be expelled from their homes and relocated to as-yet unknown locations if the evacuation plan goes through.
Sderot Mayor Moyal is helping lead the efforts in his city against the evacuation. Sderot is located less than five kilometers from northern Gaza, and will become a front-line border town if the plan goes through. Moyal told Arutz-7 last night that Sharon no longer represents the Likud. "He should start his own party," Moyal said, "one that matches his new ideology. If he would have announced before the election that this was his plan, it is doubtful that the Likud would have received the 40 seats it received." Sharon, in fact, was forcefully against the very same plan when his opponent in the elections, Amram Mitzna of Labor, proposed it.
Moyal said that no matter what the results of the referendum, "the Likud will never be the same party it was beforehand - certainly not with the same personal make-up and the same leadership. Some people will have to leave, because the common denominator bonding the party will have been lost."
Polls show that approximately 54% of the Likud membership is in favor of the poll, but Yesha sources are confident that they will win. Raanana Deputy Mayor Uzi Cohen said yesterday, "Sharon will win in the surveys, but we will win at the ballot box."
The volunteers are being organized by various task forces and teams that have arisen to fight what Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal has called the "evil evacuation scheme." The prime forces behind the effort are the Yesha Council (the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza) and the Gush Katif communities themselves. Close to 8,500 people living in Gush Katif and the northern Shomron are slated to be expelled from their homes and relocated to as-yet unknown locations if the evacuation plan goes through.
Sderot Mayor Moyal is helping lead the efforts in his city against the evacuation. Sderot is located less than five kilometers from northern Gaza, and will become a front-line border town if the plan goes through. Moyal told Arutz-7 last night that Sharon no longer represents the Likud. "He should start his own party," Moyal said, "one that matches his new ideology. If he would have announced before the election that this was his plan, it is doubtful that the Likud would have received the 40 seats it received." Sharon, in fact, was forcefully against the very same plan when his opponent in the elections, Amram Mitzna of Labor, proposed it.
Moyal said that no matter what the results of the referendum, "the Likud will never be the same party it was beforehand - certainly not with the same personal make-up and the same leadership. Some people will have to leave, because the common denominator bonding the party will have been lost."
Polls show that approximately 54% of the Likud membership is in favor of the poll, but Yesha sources are confident that they will win. Raanana Deputy Mayor Uzi Cohen said yesterday, "Sharon will win in the surveys, but we will win at the ballot box."