Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Kadima party on Monday at the Likud Central Committee meeting, saying the prime minister was "secretly planning" a unilateral withdrawal from 90 percent of West Bank. | Should have done that in '68. |
Netanyahu said this in his address to the Central Committee on Monday in its first formal meeting since his election to chairman of the party. As was widely expected, the Central Committee members voted to give Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom the number two spot on the party's Knesset list. The committee members also voted to postpone the Likud internal elections until January 12, due to changes in the party constitution that are supposed to prevent Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Jewish Movement within the Likud, from competing for a spot on the list.
Netanyahu also criticized the Palestinians, saying "We gave [them] everything, down to the last crumb, and they respond by firing Qassam rockets on Ashkelon," Netanyahu said. Two Qassam rockets landed in Israeli territory on Monday afternoon and evening. He said sources in the Palestinian Authority are trying to convince Hamas to abstain from initiating terror attacks until after Israel's general elections on March 28 in order to increase the chances that Sharon will win.