Netanyahu rules out joining Olmert-led government
Gil Hoffman, THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 12, 2006
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Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu surprised his colleagues on Saturday when
he announced on Channel 2 that the party would not enter a government in
which the policies that Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented to The
Jerusalem Post last week would be implemented.

Despite a statement by Netanyahu's spokesman Ophir Akunis on Thursday that
Netanyahu would not respond to Olmert, the chairman apparently changed his
mind over the weekend and rushed to Channel 2's studio in Neveh Ilan on
Shabbat to slam Olmert.

"These elections are a referendum on the final border," Netanyahu said.
"Olmert wants to withdraw unilaterally from most of the land. The Likud will
not enter such a government."

Netanyahu also used the interview to backtrack from a promise he made in
September 2004 to bring any territorial compromises to a referendum. He said
that because this election would serve as a referendum, he would no longer
demand an actual referendum.

Senior Likud officials said they were surprised that Netanyahu ruled out
joining a Kadima-led government without consulting them. They said the
matter had not been raised in any Likud institutions or internal forums.

"There wasn't a discussion on this," a Likud MK said. "I don't understand
many of the steps that [Netanyahu] has taken, including this one."

When Netanyahu was asked similar questions about sitting in a coalition with
Kadima in recent interviews with The Jerusalem Post and Yediot Aharonot, he
evaded the question by saying that he did not want to deal with a
hypothetical situation and that Kadima was "a temporary bubble."

Kadima strategists were pleased with Netanyahu's decision to stay out of a
potential Kadima government. They scoffed at the haste of the Likud leader's
decision and the irony that Netanyahu and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal
rejected Olmert's plans in similar fashion.

"This is yet another example of the weakness of character and judgment of
Netanyahu," Kadima strategist Lior Chorev said. "Israel will soon be free of
Netanyahu and perhaps the Likud as well."

Chorev said he agreed with Netanyahu that the election would serve as a
referendum. "The public will have to decide between Netanyahu's scare
tactics and Kadima's will to lead Israel to proper policies," Chorev said.

Inside Kadima, there was also discord over Olmert's interview. Kadima
candidate Shimon Peres said he still believed in negotiating with the
Palestinians over the road map, rather than going forward with the
unilateral steps that Olmert had suggested. "Unilateral disengagement should
be left as the last option, said Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz Saturday
night at a conference in Herzliya." We need to make more effort to negotiate
over Judea and Samaria and take advantage of the negotiating table with Abu
Mazen."

Labor MK Danny Yatom ironically attacked Olmert from the right, saying that
"Kadima is deluding the public when Olmert says he can decide Israel's
border without negotiations."

The Likud released a statement after Shabbat saying, "This election is a
referendum that will decide between the extreme leftist plan of Olmert and
the Likud's plan for secure and defensible borders for Israel."

"While Olmert is talking about withdrawing unilaterally from most of the
land to Hamas without getting anything in return, the Likud promises to
maintain the Jordan Valley, the Judean Desert and a united Jerusalem, to
distance the fence from the Dan region and Ben-Gurion Airport and to use
international pressure to replace Hamas with a more moderate Palestinian
leadership," a Likud spokesman said.

Sheera Claire Frenkel contributed to this report.