Twelve Likud members including Ministers Erdan and Edelstein and Deputy Ministers Gamliel and Kara have expressed their opposition to adopting the two-state solution mantra. They are calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “to keep campaign promises and work towards building and strengthening yishuvim”.

In a letter spearheaded by MK Tzipi Hotovely the party officials remind the prime minister of the party’s platform and campaign promises to voters, to continue building the communities throughout Yehuda and Shomron and to permit construction in yishuvim to accommodate natural growth. They also remind him of statements that he made during a session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee in May, in which he stated the position of Quartet forum is unacceptable and there are simply demands that cannot be accepted by Israel.

MKs Ze’ev Elkin, Hotovely, Shama, Danon, Regev, Levin, Katz and Pinyan in the letter told the prime minister that they stand firmly behind him to give him the strength to stand firm in the face of mounting international pressure, calling upon him to resume construction throughout Yehuda and Shomron in recognition of the incontestable right of the Jewish People to live and build in all areas of Eretz Yisrael”. 12 signed the shortened version of the letter.

Erdan, Elkin and Gamliel requested their names be removed from the original longer version, in which they state the two-state solution is a disputed concept in Israel and members of Likud cannot be a party of such a platform which views two states as a viable solution to the conflict – not pertaining to the moral standpoint which recognizes the right of the Jewish people to the land and to live in peace and security”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)