Posted on 07/22/2002 7:17:14 PM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
The initiative to "unite the right" is gathering steam. MK Avigdor Lieberman, party leader of Yisrael Beiteinu, and MKs Tzvi Hendel and Uri Ariel (National Union) met last night with Rabbi Zalman Melamed of Beit El to discuss the matter. They agreed on the necessity of the move, and talked of ways to advance it. Lieberman proposed that the head of the party be neither a government minister nor an MK, but someone with extensive authorities. His name and that of National Religious Party (NRP) head Effie Eitam were mentioned.
Objections have been heard from the NRP, however. Some say that the matter of transferring Arabs out of Yesha - a bulwark of Moledet party policy - will be a problem. Moledet sources expressed confidence that a mutually agreeable formulation could be found. MK Zevulun Orlev has deeper objections, however. He told Arutz-7 today that he favors a union of the religious-Zionist parties - "from Tekumah to Meimad, with the NRP in the middle" - but nothing larger than that:
"The NRP represents an ideology of Religious Zionism that in a party [with other elements] will be eroded and disappear. There have been previous attempts of this nature - Techiyah and the National Union - and early enthusiasm turned into political failure. Our ideology can only be sustained in a religious Zionist party; [others] can join [as they did in the previous election], but only if they accept this ideology. Electorally as well, it will not work: Many people want a religious party, and if they don't have the NRP, they'll vote for United Torah Judaism or Shas. Similarly, many new immigrants will not want to vote for a party that appears to have been taken over by religious parties... I will do all I can to form a religious Zionist bloc with Tekumah [the party of MKs Hendel and Ariel] and Meimad, with the NRP in the middle..." He implied that he would quit the NRP if it joins up with a larger bloc.
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