Free Republic

Yachad is over the threshold and in the Knesset, Bayit Yehudi got 6.13% of the vote, Likud got near 25%, Avoda (Labor) just 18%, Yesh Atid a paltry 8 point something.

Barghouti´s Popularity Spurs Campaign to Free Him 02:38 Nov 27, '05 / 25 Cheshvan 5766 By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Meretz/Yahad, a potential coalition partner for PM Sharon, has called for the release of jailed terrorist Marwan Barghouti. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom vowed he will stay in jail. Barghouti won a landslide victory Friday in Ramallah in the Palestinian Authority (PA) primaries leading up to the January 25 legislative elections, taking 96 percent of the votes. He is likely to lead the list of candidates for the ruling Fatah party despite his imprisonment. Barghouti is serving multiple life terms in an...

‘Israeli terror is worse’ Former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni blasts ‘megalomaniac’ Prime Minister Sharon in interview with Arab-Israeli newspaper, says he should face justice. Aloni also charges Israel a racist state that commits war crimes By Roee Nahmias Scathing attack - Shulamit Aloni Photo: Zvika Tishler TEL AVIV – Israel is a racist state that commits war crimes and resorts to terrorism worse than that employed by the Palestinians, former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni charged in an unusually scathing interview with Nazareth-based Arab-Israeli newspaper Kul al-Arab. Other highlights from the interview include “(Prime Minister) Sharon should face justice,” “Israel is...

Expensive, but necessary By Avraham Tal The Finance Ministry budgets director, Kobi Haber, estimates that the total cost of disengagement will reach NIS 5 billion, of which about NIS 2 billion will be security sector spending (the Israel Defense Forces and the police), and NIS 3 billion, civilian compensation for residents and business owners in the in Erez industrial zone. Some NIS 2.2 billion will be allocated this year in the hopes that it will suffice; if not, the hole will have to be filled from the current budget. The budgetary cost of disengagement is far from the whole bill,...

After defeating opponent Ran Cohen by a 9% margin in Tuesday's vote for the hegemony over the newly formed Yahad party, chairman Yossi Beilin made an impassioned plea Wednesday morning to Shimon Peres to spawn overtures by the Likud aimed at creating a national unity government. Instead, he said, the Labor Party should join forces with him in creating an opposition custodian whose mission is "shortening the days of Sharon's government." Labor party officials dismissed Beilin's call for unity and rejected his claim that they were seeking admittance into the cabinet. "While we were busy working in the Knesset," they...