Eitan Vows to Focus on Pensioner’s Issues
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Gil Pensioners Party Chairman Rafi Eitan, who led his party to an astounding seven mandates for the 17th Knesset, promised to focus on the issue that got him there.
“People chose for me for a specific issue, thus I have no choice but to concentrate on one thing, the pensioners,” he said in a Channel 1 interview Wednesday night.
“First we will take care of the pensioners, before anything else.”
Eitan was non-committal about coalition options, but said he believed that his party would not be a deciding factor.
“According to consultations I have held, we won’t be the ones to decide the composition of any future coalition,” said the former Mossad agent.
Regarding his connection to the Jonathan Pollard affair, in which he was allegedly the man who ran Pollard’s US activities and denied him sanctuary in the Israeli Consulate, Eitan said he would “try his best” to free pollard from prison.
“I very much want to see that man free, its true that I don’t like to fail.”
Sheetrit: Hungry for the Self-Empowerment of Finance Ministry — At Any Cost …
Sheetrit: We Might Not Need Labor Party
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Kadima senior official Meir Sheetrit said Wednesday that his party might not need the Labor party in order to form a coalition.
The comment comes after Haim Ramon, another senior party member, told Israel Radio earlier in the day that Labor, which came in a strong second in Tuesday’s elections, might become “a central partner” in the coalition.
Sheetrit, currently the Education Minister, told Israel Radio that he believes he is a natural candidate for the job of Finance Minister, a portfolio coveted by Labor.
Olmert Speaks of Additional Expulsion
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Following his election success, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke of his agenda including a willingness to relinquish portions of the “beloved land” in efforts to achieve peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
He added that he is willing to implement future expulsions, to remove Israelis from their homes to permit the “realization of statehood,” to live “side-by-side with Israel in peace,” referring to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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Chairman of the National Union-National Religious Party joint list, Knesset Member Benny Elon, told Arutz Sheva today that Ehud Olmert’s parliamentary majority for carrying out further unilateral withdrawals will depend on the Arab parties. However, in Elon’s estimation, such far-reaching territorial decisions can’t be passed politically only on the votes of the Arab Knesset members.
MK Elon further noted that the right-wing and religious parties need only 2-3 more seats to form a blocking majority against more unilateral withdrawals. These may yet be gained, Elon implied, as the votes of the soldiers, the expellees from Gush Katif and the handicapped have yet to be tallied. Soldiers and the victims of the Gaza-Samaria Disengagement are expected to lend their voices to the right-wing of the political spectrum. In addition, the NU-NRP focused much of its campaigning on the handicapped sector, relying on parliamentary activity to benefit that sector by the NRP.
As for the left-wing bloc, Elon estimates that the Kadima-Labor-Meretz coalition of just 52 seats will not be able to recruit enough support to carry out what Ariel Sharon was able to do with 40 seats (received by the Likud in the last elections). That result, Elon said, “is the achievement of our sector, which with hard work turned around the survey results [cutting Kadima’s projected support almost in half].”
Kadima’s Coalition Negotiation Team Won’t Include Politicians