 
Netanyahu: Israeli Blood Wasn’t Spilt So Hamas Could Move Into Jerusalem
|
By Mazal Mualem
Published on Friday, October 03, 2008 -
COMMENTS (0)
|
|
Likud chairman and opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu told Army Radio last week that he has no intention of joining a national unity coalition led by Tzipi Livni that would “relinquish the Golan Heights and divide Jerusalem.”
“I don’t want to build an Iranian base in the Golan Heights or in the heart of Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said. “This will be a government that will relinquish the Golan Heights and will divide Jerusalem. This is not a government with our (the Likud’s) guidelines.”
The Likud chair blasted the Kadima chairwoman for pledging to continue negotiations for a final settlement with the Palestinian Authority. “We know what we are dealing with on the other (Palestinian) side,” Netanyahu said. “Today, there is no partner. There is a partner to talks but not to deeds. There is no Palestinian alive today who will kill a terrorist operative.”
“I won’t let Hamas enter East Jerusalem,” the opposition chief said. “Jerusalem is ours. We did not spill blood so that Hamas can settle in Jerusalem.” When asked how he reconciled his opposition to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights with the fact that he negotiated with Syria during his term as prime minister, Netanyahu replied that his steadfast stance led to key Syrian concessions on the issue of land. “My first course of action as prime minister was to nullify the famous Rabin deposit,” Netanyahu said, referring to Yitzhak Rabin’s reported pledge to U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher stating that Israel commits to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for firm security guarantees from Damascus.
Since Livni’s narrow victory over Shaul Mofaz in the Kadima primary, Netanyahu has sought to play up the difference between Kadima under Livni, who is prepared for territorial compromises, and Likud, which has pledged to keep Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Western Wall, and the Temple Mount under Israeli sovereignty. Netanyahu publicly rejected the call by Livni, Kadima’s new chairwoman, to join a national unity government headed by her. Speaking at a news conference at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv, together with Likud MKs, Netanyahu launched an all-out attack on a future Livni cabinet and its expected coalition with Labor and Shas. “We are not joining a failure and we are the alternative to the failure,” Netanyahu told the press. He also reiterated the Likud argument that “it is inconceivable for a small group of Kadima members to decide for the citizens of Israel.” Netanyahu declined to divulge the content of his Saturday-night meeting with Labor chairman Defense Minister Ehud Barak. “We are told that elections will undermine the stability of the government, but the opposite is true. As long as there are no elections there will be no stability. It will be a transitional government constantly preoccupied with its survival,” Netanyahu said.
MK Silvan Shalom accused Livni of favoring “her chair over ideology,” mentioning the period after the Winograd Committee report on the Second Lebanon War, “when she called on Olmert to resign but remained foreign minister. And after Talansky she mumbled something and stayed in the government.” Likud whip MK Gideon Sa’ar said that within the first 24 hours of coalition talks Livni “had broken all her promises.” He said she had given in to Shas’s demand to restore cuts made to monthly child allowances. (Haaretz) ♦
No Comments
|
| |
|
Click Here To Download
this
week's paper as a PDF
Click Here For Newspaper Archive.
|
SUBSCRIBE
Get 5TJT Delivered to your door
every thursday morning.
|
Poll
5TJT Visitors
255641
|
