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Israeli Elections 2006 Fact Sheet
Israeli Elections Fact SheetThe Israeli Elections were held on Tuesday the 28th of March 2006. Election Results:
Click here for full list of MKs Ehud Olmert stated in his victory speech: “Today, Israeli democracy has spoken its piece, in a loud and clear voice. Israel wants Kadima. At this moment, I am looking toward Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem to the man who started it all, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He is still our prime minister. In the coming period we will move to set the final borders of the state of Israel, a Jewish state with a Jewish majority. We will try to achieve this in an agreement with the Palestinians. This is our hope and prayer. [To the Palestinians...] We are prepared to compromise, give up parts of our beloved land of Israel, painfully remove Jews who live there, to allow you the conditions to achieve your hopes and to live in a state in peace and quiet.”
Palestinian Reactions to the Elections:
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority:
“The result was expected. But what is more important now is that [Ehud] Olmert changes his agenda and abandon his unilateral plans to fix the borders” Source Ismail Haniya, Prime Minister Designate of the Palestinian Authority: “The Palestinian people cannot accept [Ehud] Olmert's plan to fix the borders unilaterally. I think that if there are no bold steps... to recognise and acknowledge the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people... then this will certainly mean the continuation of the whirlpool of confusion and failures within this region.” Source Atif Udwan, a Hamas MP and minister of state-designate: "The Israeli governments of the last decade did not negotiate with us. Rather, they imposed ideas on us that we accepted. But the next government won't accept such policies and the Israeli way of dealing with the government. We consider the ball to be in the Israeli playing field - and we don't anticipate that they will kick it our way, no matter who wins." Source
Kadima Party Official Website
Party Leader: Ehud Olmert
In 2005, Olmert left the Likud Party with Ariel Sharon to form the Kadima Party.
Policy (as stated on official website): Click here for source Quotes: “Kadima was born out of a great Israeli need for a central reliable dominant movement that expressed the position of the majority of Israeli citizens. Her founders created it out of a sense of national responsibility and out of a firm belief in the future of the State of Israel as a state, a society and a national home.” Olmert on 23/2/2006 “Kadima is committed to reforming the education system, the electoral system and in a whole range of other areas that will lead to more of social justice, strengthen the feeling of personal security, enhance freedom of opportunity and reduce long standing gaps in Israeli society” Olmert on 23/2/2006 Ehud Olmert’s Speech at the Herzliya Conference on 24 January 2006: “There are many more steps we must take in order to build an ethical society with strong values: building a value-based education system, infusing our lives with Jewish content, strengthening our connection to the Jewish Diaspora, shaping a system of equal opportunities with the Arab minority, based on rights and responsibilities, and developing a strong, just, compassionate and reactive economy. However, there is no doubt that the most important and dramatic step we face is the determinating of permanent borders of the State of Israel, to ensure the Jewish majority in the country.” “In order to ensure the existence of a Jewish national homeland, we will not be able to continue ruling over the territories in which the majority of the Palestinian population lives. We must create a clear boundary as soon as possible, one which will reflect the demographic reality on the ground. Israel will maintain control over the security zones, the Jewish settlement blocs, and those places which have supreme national importance to the Jewish people, first and foremost a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. There can be no Jewish state without the capital of Jerusalem at its centre.” Click here for full speech
Labour Party Official Website
Party Leader: Amir Peretz Policy: Quotes: Peretz on Israel-Palestine: “I am committed to the pursuit of a just and lasting peace with our Palestinian neighbours, in order to ensure, for Israel, secure, defendable and recognized borders. The pursuit of peace will not weaken my commitment to an uncompromising struggle against terrorism in order to provide all citizens with individual security. A peace agreement will bring an end to the occupation that erodes the moral fiber of the Israeli society and undermines it ability to preserve its Jewish and democratic nature. It will bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state in which the Palestinian people will be able to build their society, will free Israel form its responsibility towards the Palestinians and allow channeling resources inwardly: caring for our own citizens, meeting their needs, closing social gaps and enhancing social justice.” "… push forward peace negotiations while striving for a permanent-status agreement based on two states for two peoples. I will keep Jerusalem strong and united, with a Jewish character and a Jewish majority population." Source Peretz on the Economy: “I am a firm supporter of a free market that respects labour laws and ensures the rights of all workers. A healthy and prosperous economy is grounded in the following principles: reducing unemployment, promoting fair and equal working conditions, increasing minimal wage. While the economy ought to be based on competition, I will do my best all to ensure that the revenues from our national growth will be shared by all members of society.” Likud PartyOfficial Website
Party Leader: Benjamin Netanyahu Policy: Quotes: Benjamin Netanyahu on Israel/Palestine in his speech at the Herzliya Conference on 22 January 2006: “The absolutely necessary condition for peace is maintaining security. Peace without security is an illusion and therefore the critical crossroads we are facing today and in the coming years deal with determining of secure borders for Israel. These borders must include the Jordan rift valley, greater Jerusalem, the areas overlooking the central bloc (Gush Dan) and roads 443 and 6. As Prime Minister I will strive towards negotiations with a Palestinian partner that absolves himself of terrorism and fights it. We will negotiate with such a partner on the basis of mutuality. We will be ready and willing to make great sacrifices but not with regards to our security.”Link to Herzliya Conference Speech Useful Links: Israeli Electoral System The Knesset's Official Website BBC's Election Coverage Haaretz's Election Coverage Aljazeera's Election Coverage
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