Kadima: We have no ideology

Speaking at a Kadima conference, Education Minister Meir Sheetrit says, 'we
don't have the baggage of the heritage of Zeev Jabotinsky or Berl
Katzenelson on our back.' Peres: No prime minister can make a bold move if
he doesn't have at least 40 mandates

Ahiya Raved YNET 26 March 2006
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3232567,00.html

Education Minister Meir Sheetrit, speaking at a Kadima party conference,
said that Kadima had disengaged itself from all ideologies.

"That is Kadima's uniqueness," he said.

"Former Labor party members sit here, former Likud members, and friends who
have not been in any other parties before this. We don't have the baggage of
the heritage of Zeev Jabotinsky, or Berl Katzenelson, on our back. We are
looking only to the future."

Meanwhile, Shimon Peres addressed the apparent threat posed to Israel by
Hamas.

"We know there is nothing to be afraid of; the IDF has never been more
advanced, stronger, and more able to protect than today," he said.

'It's good to live in our country'

Peres called on Kadima voters not to be apathetic, and to bring the party as
many mandates as possible. "No prime minister can make

a bold move if he doesn't have at least 40 mandates. (David) Ben-Gurion
established the State with 50 mandates. (Menachem) Begin had over 40
mandates. Yitzhak Rabin, and (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon had them too, but
their mandates were comprised of a number of party lists. The fewer mandates
a party has, the smaller the chance that it will make important steps, and
its term will be shorter," he said.

The conference, organized by the Kadima's northern elections headquarters,
headed by Kiryat Motzkin Mayor Haim Zuri, was aimed at concluding Kadima's
northern elections campaign.

Some 1,300 people attended, and heard speeches by Peres, Sheetrit, and
Gideon Ezra, among others.

Sheetrit added: "We (in Kadima) don't say, 'its good to die for our country,'
but rather, 'it's good to live in our country'."

(03.26.06, 22:28)