National Union says it will quit gov't if Sharon plan approved

Haaretz ^ | 4/15/2004 | Mazal Mualem

[yonif]

Government ministers Thursday evening received by fax copies of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. Meanwhile, the prime minister departed from the United States and is now en route to Israel.

Earlier Thursday, the National Union faction decided Thursday that it will resign from the government if the cabinet or Knesset approve the disengagement plan.

Following the decision, the National Union issued a statement urging members of Sharon's Likud party to reject the disengagement plan in the May 2 referendum for all registered Likud members. "Likud members will utilize their nationalist sentiments and not lend a hand to the uprooting of Jews from their homes in exchange for empty words," the statement said. "They will not accept a plan which entails Israel backing down and transferring authority from the nationalist camp to Labor and the left."

Meanwhile, the National Religious Party has yet to decide how it will respond if the prime minister's plan wins government approval. MK Shaul Yahalom said Wednesday that the party is best served by maintaining a vagueness about its intentions, so long as bulldozers have not yet begun destroying settlements, and the party can still affect government policy from inside.

Following U.S. President George W. Bush's speech Wednesday, right-wing figures said that Sharon is deluding the public and that Bush's address contained nothing new. Bush's statement accomplished nothing for Israel and "Sharon is leading Israel toward political disaster, covered in illusions and American dimness," Yahalom said.

Minister Effi Eitam (National Union) said Wednesday that the Oslo Accords proved that promises on paper provide no security to Israel's citizens.

National Union Chairman, MK Yuri Stern said he was sorry that the prime minister was unable to win any strategic concessions during his U.S. visit, even from a president as friendly as Bush. "The vague words we heard do not justify the transfer or one latrine from the land of Israel, not to mention uprooting settlements, turning Jews into refugees in their own land and transferring power to Arab terror organizations.

[graf008]

Maybe this wasn't as good of a thing as we thought....

[goldstategop]

I'm glad to see them doing the right thing rather be complicit in shaming the memory of Vladimir Jabotinsky. The Jews should be proud. This is their country and they should not retreat from an inch of its soil. The Arabs would never do it if positions were reversed and I think its important to stand up for principle when it matters. The territorial integrity of the Jewish State should not be a matter for negotiation.