Elon has been attempting to unite the two parties into one electoral list, but Orlev, reportedly, has been resisting that effort.
In an interview with INN, Elon said, “I’ve been explaining to my friend Orlev, than in the end, we have to run together. The feeling coming from the public, Rabbis, and young people, is leading toward unity, and this will come about.” Elon said there was no opposition to this move in either the NRP (National Religious Party) or National Union.
“Let’s arrive at a unified leadership,” said Elon, appealing to Orlev. “We can meet in a closed room and work on it, until white smoke comes out. It’s possible. We’re ready for it and so is the NRP.”
Elon, however, was critical of the NRP’s negotiating tactics, saying the party was acting like a person who “goes to the market and checks out all the stalls, hoping the price will drop. Perhaps this is the right way to negotiate. But our homes, children, and Jewish education and identity are on the line, not only in Judea and Samaria, but for parents in Tel Aviv who refuse to let their child visit the Western Wall, because they are afraid to go to Jerusalem.”
Elon added, “They can even return the Western Wall [to the Arabs]. Everything is in danger.”
“Our roles as politicians,” said Elon, “is to direct the energy that was in Kfar Maimon, along with the difficult crises that followed it, and we can’t keep using the slogan ‘our spirit will win out.’” He said a mature approach recognizes that policy is not determined by protests and demonstrations, but by “political clout in the Knesset.”
Regarding the suggestion of MK Avigdor Lieberman to establish a broad-based right wing coalition comprised of his own party, Yisrael Beitenu, the Likud, the National Union, and the NRP, Elon said his response depends on whether Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decides to leave the Likud and form his own party.
“It has to be clear that the Likud would prefer the right-wing and religious parties, and not Shinui and the Labor party,” he explained.
Elon said that when Ehud Barak fell as prime minister in 2000, the right-wing and religious parties offered to help former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu return to power, but he refused.
“I would be satisfied with setting up a bloc after the elections, with understandings set before the elections,” said Elon. “But I won’t rule out [a broader bloc]. We have to wait and see if Mr. Sharon fires the Likud the way he fired Lieberman and me, or that he’ll simply reach the required conclusion and return to his ranch.”
Sharon fired Avigdor Lieberman, who was serving as Transport Minister and Benny Elon, who was serving as Tourism Minister in the Sharon government, when they voted against the disengagement plan in the Knesset.
Elon’s Moledet party and Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu party, along with Tekuma, a religious party, ran together in the last election as the National Union party.
When Sharon made his proposal to disengage from Gaza and northern Samaria, not all of Lieberman’s MK’s opposed the measure. Lieberman has since voiced support for creating a Palestinian state. According to Lieberman’s proposal, Israel would trade Arab-populated areas in Israel’s pre-1967 borders for retaining certain settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria.
In an interview with INN, Elon said, “I’ve been explaining to my friend Orlev, than in the end, we have to run together. The feeling coming from the public, Rabbis, and young people, is leading toward unity, and this will come about.” Elon said there was no opposition to this move in either the NRP (National Religious Party) or National Union.
“Let’s arrive at a unified leadership,” said Elon, appealing to Orlev. “We can meet in a closed room and work on it, until white smoke comes out. It’s possible. We’re ready for it and so is the NRP.”
Elon, however, was critical of the NRP’s negotiating tactics, saying the party was acting like a person who “goes to the market and checks out all the stalls, hoping the price will drop. Perhaps this is the right way to negotiate. But our homes, children, and Jewish education and identity are on the line, not only in Judea and Samaria, but for parents in Tel Aviv who refuse to let their child visit the Western Wall, because they are afraid to go to Jerusalem.”
Elon added, “They can even return the Western Wall [to the Arabs]. Everything is in danger.”
“Our roles as politicians,” said Elon, “is to direct the energy that was in Kfar Maimon, along with the difficult crises that followed it, and we can’t keep using the slogan ‘our spirit will win out.’” He said a mature approach recognizes that policy is not determined by protests and demonstrations, but by “political clout in the Knesset.”
Regarding the suggestion of MK Avigdor Lieberman to establish a broad-based right wing coalition comprised of his own party, Yisrael Beitenu, the Likud, the National Union, and the NRP, Elon said his response depends on whether Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decides to leave the Likud and form his own party.
“It has to be clear that the Likud would prefer the right-wing and religious parties, and not Shinui and the Labor party,” he explained.
Elon said that when Ehud Barak fell as prime minister in 2000, the right-wing and religious parties offered to help former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu return to power, but he refused.
“I would be satisfied with setting up a bloc after the elections, with understandings set before the elections,” said Elon. “But I won’t rule out [a broader bloc]. We have to wait and see if Mr. Sharon fires the Likud the way he fired Lieberman and me, or that he’ll simply reach the required conclusion and return to his ranch.”
Sharon fired Avigdor Lieberman, who was serving as Transport Minister and Benny Elon, who was serving as Tourism Minister in the Sharon government, when they voted against the disengagement plan in the Knesset.
Elon’s Moledet party and Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu party, along with Tekuma, a religious party, ran together in the last election as the National Union party.
When Sharon made his proposal to disengage from Gaza and northern Samaria, not all of Lieberman’s MK’s opposed the measure. Lieberman has since voiced support for creating a Palestinian state. According to Lieberman’s proposal, Israel would trade Arab-populated areas in Israel’s pre-1967 borders for retaining certain settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria.