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Posted on 03/03/2005 11:12:43 AM PST by Alouette
The Likud central committee voted to support holding a referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza Strip withdrawal plan in a stormy session of the committee at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds on Thursday night.
Sharon used the event to attack his opponents in the party and the nation. As Sharon spoke, hawkish central committee members heckled him, shouted "elections now" and held up signs saying, Sharon go home."
"As the founder of this party, I condemn efforts by outsiders and extremists to take over the party," Sharon said. "I never gave into threats and there is no chance I will start now. The government and the Knesset made decisions against your opinions and they will be implemented."
Sharon vowed to "not let a group of extremists on the fringes decide our path" and said that he "feels the pain of the settlers even more than the people screaming against me over here."
The prime minister and his allies in the cabinet did not vote in favor of the referendum proposal, and a vote against the proposal was not held.
Less than a third of the Likud's 2900 central committee members attended the event. An overwhelming majority of them voted in favor of the proposal.
"The Likud central committee recognizes that holding a referendum on the disengagement plan could calm the public dispute and strengthen unity in Israeli society," the proposal says. "Therefore, the central committee calls upon the faction to work to immediately legislate a referendum bill."
Sharon's associates called the event "a campaign rally for Uzi Landau," the leader of the so-called Likud rebels. Sharon's aides called dozens of central committee members and told them not to come so there would not be the thousand members necessary for a quorum and a valid decision.
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Knesset Law Committee Michael Eitan, and Landau all spoke in favor of holding a referendum.
Netanyahu said he tried to initiate a referendum when he was prime minister in 1998 on the Wye Accord and former prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak also backed referenda on withdrawing from territories. He called upon the so-called Likud rebels not to carry out their threat to oppose the budget if Sharon doesn't allow a referendum.
"Let's admit that the Likud went to the election with a different agenda [than disengagement]," Netanyahu said. "The only way to take such a dramatic and difficult step is by turning directly to the public and letting them decide."
Shalom said that there is an overwhelming majority in the country, both for disengagement and for a referendum. "I don't want a referendum against Sharon but a referendum in favor of party unity and easing the rift in the nation," Shalom said.
Landau said that Sharon supported a referendum on the Oslo accord in 1993 and he would be supporting a referendum today were he not prime minister. Netanyahu said that the disengagement plan is legitimate even though he opposes it but Landau disagreed.
"The disengagement plan may be legal, but it is totally illegitimate from a democratic standpoint," Landau said. "We have to ask ourselves whether we are a democratic party or whether we are a party that allows one man to make all the decisions."
Eitan said he would convene his committee as soon as possible to begin legislating a referendum bill that he proposed together with rebel MK Gilad Erdan. He quoted a letter he received from the Prime Minister's Office a year ago that said that Sharon was leaning toward initiating a national referendum.
The rebels hope that the wide margin of victory will convince Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to change his mind and instruct Shas's 11 MKs to vote in favor of a referendum. But Shas chairman Eli Yishai said the only way a referendum would pass would be if United Torah Judaism MKs also vote in favor, which he said is extremely unlikely.
"All the rabbis would have to decide together for there to be a referendum," Yishai said. "I don't see it happening because the results of such a referendum would be known in advance and because the rabbis are afraid of setting a precedent for referenda that could be used to make the state less Jewish."
Erdan said that he believes the rabbis will eventually endorse holding a referendum, because of the principle of saving lives outweighing all other commandments. He said his and Eitan's referendum bill was originally co-sponsored by Shas faction chair Yair Peretz and it rules out referenda on matters of religion and state.
Earlier Thursday, a Likud internal court ruled against a request by the rebels to hold a secret ballot vote.
A group of 100 workers from a factory in Ashkelon demonstrated outside the event and called upon Netanyahu to resign.
Meanwhile, Sharon and Netanyahu continued efforts to find a majority for the 2005 state budget, which will come to a vote in the Knesset Finance Committee next week and the plenum on March 17. If the budget is not passed by March 31, the government will fall automatically and elections will be held in June.
Am Ehad leader Amir Peretz said on Thursday that if the votes of his three MK faction would prevent the government and the disengagement plan from falling, he would consider abstaining or voting in favor of the budget.
National Religious Party faction chair Zevulun Orlev said that if Sharon would support a referendum, his four-MK faction would vote in favor of the budget.
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Anyone that does not agree with Sharon is an extremist? What planet is he from?
Sensible, mature societies acknowledge their extemist elements without giving into them. In non-sensible, immature societies, extremists run the show.
What kind of a society is it where mature, sensible people who don't agree with the government policy are smeared as "extremists"?
If he agrees to a national referendum he will face the possibility of losing,remember how confident he was that his own Likud Party would support the withdrawl.
If he does not agree that means no budget and national election will be held where he will lose.
A "Democratic" planet.
They seem to have elections every other week. Thank God they don't dip their fingers in ink like the Iraqis or they'd have terminal cases of purple-finger. They'd have to change the colors quite often but even then, eventually, they'd be taking off their socks and dipping toes.
I prefer our Republic form of government . . . warts and all.
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