Yesterday's decision by NRP leader Housing Minister Effie Eitam to resign from the government has left most of his party behind - so far. It has also led to calls for either his resignation or his ousting from the party leadership.
Eitam, together with Deputy Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, resigned from the government yesterday, in light of the Cabinet's decision-in-principle to withdraw from Gaza and the northern Shomron. Three of the other MKs - Minister Zevulun Orlev, Sha'ul Yahalom, and Gila Finkelstein - wish to remain, for now, in the government.
The party's 6th MK, Nissan Slomiansky, has not yet made a final decision. Slomiansky denied reports that he has been offered the position of Deputy Education Minister, the post that Tzvi Hendel of the National Union party vacated earlier this week. He said that he would not assume any new positions during the upcoming period. "Although my inclination is to do everything I can to protest this withdrawal plan," he said today, "I am trying to find a compromise that will enable the party to come out of this crisis united."
The situation in the NRP is now one of great tension and resentment between the sides. It will be recalled that Eitam spent 30 years in the IDF, retiring as a high-ranking officer, and assumed the party leadership just over two years ago. As such, many still regard him as an outsider. "Many party leaders in Israel are treated similarly," Eitam said today. "Look what happened to Amram Mitzna [of Labor], and Aryeh Deri [of Shas], and even Arik Sharon... Before I came to the NRP, the polls predicted only 2-3 Knesset seats - but in the end, we received 6 seats, a small increase over what we had had before."
Orlev and his allies, however, say that the Cabinet did not yet make an operative decision to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle communities, and that many things could happen until this actually occurs. They also say that Eitam and Levy should have waited until the party's Central Committee convenes and makes a final decision on the matter. "Morally, Eitam should resign as party leader," Orlev said, "because a party can't speak in two voices."
Asked about Orlev's "let's wait and see" approach, Eitam said, "The thought that we should remain in a government we don't agree with because someone else [Labor - ed. note] might replace us is the type of thought that can destroy an ideological movement..." He compared it to the following scenario:
"Let's say there is a group of cooks in a kitchen preparing a meal for hundreds of people. Suddenly the boss comes in and orders them to prepare a poisonous meal - but says that they need not serve it yet, just merely cook it, and then we'll see what happens. Should the cooks then start cooking the poisonous meal? After all, they can say to themselves, 'Well, many things can happen: maybe the boss will die, or he'll change his mind, or someone else will come and cook it even faster...' Obviously not. This is the situation that the NRP is facing right now. As it is, concrete steps are already being taken, such as the decision to close the Erez industrial zone in Gaza [see below]...
"There are times when a person must follow his conscience - that is the essence of leadership."
Eitam added that the Sharon government must and can be toppled. He noted especially its undemocratic moves of the last few days regarding the firing of National Union party ministers Lieberman and Elon, the intention to establish a Hamas-terrorist state in Gaza, and Sharon's stated intention to make Gaza "clean of Jews by the end of 2005." Eitam said that when that intention is translated into "another language, it sounds so terrible that I don't even want to think about it."
Eitam and Levy received a letter yesterday from Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu - who, together with Rabbi Avraham Shapira, is regarded by some as the party's spiritual advisor - instructing them to resign. Both sides claim to have the support of the "religious-Zionist public."
The tentative understanding reached yesterday is that by Monday, the date of the next no-confidence motion, the two sides will try to reach an agreement on how to vote. Rabbi Levy estimates that it's only a matter of time - and probably even by Monday - that the other party MKs will join him and Eitam in opposing the Sharon government. It could be, however, that this period will be extended for three months, after which the party leaders will convene to make a final decision. "In the final analysis," Eitam said today, "all of us oppose this terrible plan to withdraw from Gaza and uproot 8,500 Jews from their homes."
Yahalom said that Eitam and Levy had, by resigning, "stabbed the settlement movement in the back, as now we won't be able to fight for its interests in the government." Levy said that remaining in the government would allow Sharon to continue preparing for the withdrawal/expulsion, and then to "throw us out the minute we threaten to vote against it in the Cabinet."
Eitam, together with Deputy Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, resigned from the government yesterday, in light of the Cabinet's decision-in-principle to withdraw from Gaza and the northern Shomron. Three of the other MKs - Minister Zevulun Orlev, Sha'ul Yahalom, and Gila Finkelstein - wish to remain, for now, in the government.
The party's 6th MK, Nissan Slomiansky, has not yet made a final decision. Slomiansky denied reports that he has been offered the position of Deputy Education Minister, the post that Tzvi Hendel of the National Union party vacated earlier this week. He said that he would not assume any new positions during the upcoming period. "Although my inclination is to do everything I can to protest this withdrawal plan," he said today, "I am trying to find a compromise that will enable the party to come out of this crisis united."
The situation in the NRP is now one of great tension and resentment between the sides. It will be recalled that Eitam spent 30 years in the IDF, retiring as a high-ranking officer, and assumed the party leadership just over two years ago. As such, many still regard him as an outsider. "Many party leaders in Israel are treated similarly," Eitam said today. "Look what happened to Amram Mitzna [of Labor], and Aryeh Deri [of Shas], and even Arik Sharon... Before I came to the NRP, the polls predicted only 2-3 Knesset seats - but in the end, we received 6 seats, a small increase over what we had had before."
Orlev and his allies, however, say that the Cabinet did not yet make an operative decision to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle communities, and that many things could happen until this actually occurs. They also say that Eitam and Levy should have waited until the party's Central Committee convenes and makes a final decision on the matter. "Morally, Eitam should resign as party leader," Orlev said, "because a party can't speak in two voices."
Asked about Orlev's "let's wait and see" approach, Eitam said, "The thought that we should remain in a government we don't agree with because someone else [Labor - ed. note] might replace us is the type of thought that can destroy an ideological movement..." He compared it to the following scenario:
"Let's say there is a group of cooks in a kitchen preparing a meal for hundreds of people. Suddenly the boss comes in and orders them to prepare a poisonous meal - but says that they need not serve it yet, just merely cook it, and then we'll see what happens. Should the cooks then start cooking the poisonous meal? After all, they can say to themselves, 'Well, many things can happen: maybe the boss will die, or he'll change his mind, or someone else will come and cook it even faster...' Obviously not. This is the situation that the NRP is facing right now. As it is, concrete steps are already being taken, such as the decision to close the Erez industrial zone in Gaza [see below]...
"There are times when a person must follow his conscience - that is the essence of leadership."
Eitam added that the Sharon government must and can be toppled. He noted especially its undemocratic moves of the last few days regarding the firing of National Union party ministers Lieberman and Elon, the intention to establish a Hamas-terrorist state in Gaza, and Sharon's stated intention to make Gaza "clean of Jews by the end of 2005." Eitam said that when that intention is translated into "another language, it sounds so terrible that I don't even want to think about it."
Eitam and Levy received a letter yesterday from Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu - who, together with Rabbi Avraham Shapira, is regarded by some as the party's spiritual advisor - instructing them to resign. Both sides claim to have the support of the "religious-Zionist public."
The tentative understanding reached yesterday is that by Monday, the date of the next no-confidence motion, the two sides will try to reach an agreement on how to vote. Rabbi Levy estimates that it's only a matter of time - and probably even by Monday - that the other party MKs will join him and Eitam in opposing the Sharon government. It could be, however, that this period will be extended for three months, after which the party leaders will convene to make a final decision. "In the final analysis," Eitam said today, "all of us oppose this terrible plan to withdraw from Gaza and uproot 8,500 Jews from their homes."
Yahalom said that Eitam and Levy had, by resigning, "stabbed the settlement movement in the back, as now we won't be able to fight for its interests in the government." Levy said that remaining in the government would allow Sharon to continue preparing for the withdrawal/expulsion, and then to "throw us out the minute we threaten to vote against it in the Cabinet."