Tel-Chai Nation

It would be strongly advised to pay attention to the Shas party, to make sure that they know better than to just simply join an Ehud Olmert led government without taking care that withdrawal under any name is not part of the basic government program (קווי יסוד). On the matter of withdrawals from Judea, One Jerusalem's webmaster watched the BBC and said that:

...this morning in its report about Kadima and Labour having reached a coalition agreement to form a new government it included the fact that the elections did not give a clear mandate for further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank[Judea].

This a fact that Olmert has been trying to cover up by maintaining that Israel's elections was a mandate in support of further withdrawals. If the BBC understands that there is no clear mandate for such a policy perhaps the White House understands this as well.

We still can't underestimate the White House. And seeing this report here, about Shas being ready to join Olmert's coalition, while there are some things I'd like to be appreciative of here, they still need to be studied.

The Shas Party, a Sephardic hareidi party that opposed the Disengagement and maintains that it opposes another unilateral withdrawal, appears to be on the verge of signing a coalition agreement.

Party leader Eli Yishai, however, was quoted today as saying that an agreement will not be signed today, as "we are insisting on certain points."

It has been reported that Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, known to be against unilateral withdrawals, instructed Yishai to insist on receiving four ministerial portfolios, and not the three that have been offered.

Political analyst Yoav Yitzchak noted that the coalition guidelines do not specifically mention the convergence plan that Olmert has touted for some months. Yitzchak implies that Olmert has thus betrayed his voters.

Others note, however, the fact that the guidelines promise that, if negotiations with the Palestinian Authority are not fruitful, the government will "take action" in the framework of "reducing Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria." They say that this gives Olmert ample room in which to carry out his convergence plan, withdraw from large areas of the Land of Israel, and uproot additional tens of thousands of Jews from their homes.

Shas MK Nissim Ze'ev told Arutz-7, "Olmert is smart and wily, and these guidelines give everyone what they wish to understand... When he talks of reducing settlement areas, he means removing some outposts, not bona-fide communities."

A-7: "Are you too, then, not falling into this trap of understanding the guidelines in a way that is convenient to you? Do you not feel that Olmert himself will understand them differently? After all, he is outspokenly in favor of a massive withdrawal."

Ze'ev: "I don't believe that uprooting Jewish settlements is on the agenda. We, in any event, will quit the government the moment such an issue is brought up... But in the meanwhile, there are many other issues in this country that have to be dealt with, such as the Rabbinical Courts, child allowance payments, civil marriages, and more."

With all due respect, Ze'ev, let me make a point in fairness: Without proper security and state, those subjects, if you ask me, bear no meaning. And Shas' constituency, people of Sephardic backgrounds, have a right to safety and security as well, not to mention their right to live throughout the Land of Israel. Not to worry though, Matot Arim does seem to be prepared:

The grassroots "Cities of Israel" organization called upon Land of Israel loyalists to "include in your Sabbath preparations today the buying of a newspaper at your local grocery, and going to your local Shas representative, and asking him what he thinks about his party joining a government with guidelines calling for a unilateral 'reduction in Israeli settlement areas in Judea and Samaria.'

"You should tell him that we thought that Shas' regret over its participation in the Oslo process was genuine. But now it looks like you're saying 'I will sin and then repent' [in which the repentance is not accepted].

"Any local Shas representative, such as the Shas representative on each city's council, has a direct connection to the top echelons of the party," a Cities of Israel volunteer explained. "It is imperative that each of us employ the 'grocery-newspaper-Shas' method today, immediately, so that the Shas leaders receive a strong message from below, before Sabbath, that they are returning to their Oslo sins."

Cities of Israel veteran spokesperson Susie Dym urged Israelis who have already implemented the above method "to double and triple their individual influence by encouraging several friends to follow their good example. None of us should be willing to leave their own local Shas stone unturned."

Here's the Shas e-mail address, avidaniiz@012.net.il, and, while only in Hebrew, here's their website: http://www.shasnet.org.il/

Avigdor Lieberman's own party, Yisrael Beitenu, appears to be staying outside the government. From one of the members:

(IsraelNN.com) Yisrael Beitenu Knesset member Yitzkak Aharonovitch said Friday that the party’s ideologies and principles could not be sold or bought.

Aharonovitch is number eight on his party’s list. “Anyone who doesn’t want us in this government will accept us many times more in the next one,” he said.

He made his remarks at a meeting of the party’s membership.

Somehow, I think I have to agree with him there.