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Dying in order to live again By Nadav Shragai Tags: Moledet, Israel  Is unity a recipe for victory at the polls? The National Religious Party, Moledet and Tekuma are convinced that it is. Their public is signaling that unity is what it wants. The three rightist parties, which ran in the last elections on a joint list (National Union-NRP), have been discussing the details of a full merger for months, and the formula is almost ready: Within a few weeks, their party institutions will be asked to vote themselves out of existence, "to die in order to live again." In Tekuma, the rabbis will approve it. In Moledet, it is usually MK Benny Elon who decides. But in the NRP, a world war is expected. After the three parties issue themselves a "death certificate," the process of rebirth will begin: A public council will be established, composed of figures with no clear political affiliation. This council will choose and rank the new, merged party's candidates for Knesset. The MKs recommend that only the party leader be elected in a party-wide primary, but even on this issue, the final decision will remain in the council's hands. Advertisement The council will initially consist of 25 people, who will then choose another 25 or more, bringing the total up to a maximum of 60. The names under discussion as council members come from the entire spectrum of religious Zionism, as well as "traditional" Jews: at one end, Rabbi Dov Lior, the radical chairman of the Council of Yesha Rabbis (Yesha is the Hebrew acronym for the West Bank and Gaza), and at the other, Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, one of the founders of the Tzohar movement, who represents an open, anti-conservative religious Zionism. Other possibilities include retired Supreme Court justice Tsevi Tal; Prof. Yaffa Zilbershats, the dean of Bar-Ilan University's law school; Yoel Tzur, a resident of the settlement of Beit El and one of the heads of the settlers' Arutz Sheva radio station, who lost his wife and son in a terror attack 12 years ago; retired judge Sarah Frisch, who headed the committee that examined the NRP's failure in the 1999 elections; and singer and actor Yehoram Gaon. Nobody will be guaranteed a seat on the party's Knesset list, and the MKs will instruct the council to ensure that new faces, including women and traditional Jews, comprise at least 40 percent of the slate. The aim will be to form religious Zionism's "dream team," with an emphasis on maximizing variety - right and left, religious and traditional, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, women and men, rabbis and academics. The main additional change is expected to be in the party's agenda. Since 1981, rightist religious Zionist slates have split among themselves 10 times, always over diplomatic issues. Thus the glue that unites the new party, which may be called Shorashim ("Roots"), will not be diplomatic policy, but rather education, Jewish identity and ethics, and social issues. While religious Zionist life generally involves a strong connection to the Land of Israel and to settling the West Bank, the average national religious family is no less concerned about issues such as high tuition payments (NIS 4,000 to NIS 8,000 per month for a family with five children, more than in any other sector of Israeli society); cuts in government funding for civilian national service, mechinot (post high-school programs that combine Jewish studies with preparation for military service) and hesder yeshivas (which combine Jewish studies with military service); the lack of synagogues and mikvehs (ritual baths) in many new neighborhoods; and a host of issues related to Jewish identity. While everyone in the religious Zionist world accepts the principle of unity, how to achieve it remains an open question. One faction of the National Union-NRP - Ahi, headed by MKs Effi Eitam and Yitzhak Levy - remains outside the new alignment. Ahi will be invited to join the union, but it may not accept the invitation. The focus of the controversy is Eitam's demand that the new party choose its Knesset slate in a party-wide primary. The MKs who support the merger are vehemently opposed to this, claiming, as one put it, that "primaries have been proven to be the mother of all sin and corruption, as has already been seen in the large parties." MK Eliyahu Gabbay (NRP) also objects to giving the public council exclusive control over the party's slate. He thinks this would mean abolishing the NRP convention, alienating the party from the field and transferring power to an organizing committee composed of cronies. He therefore supports a proposal by Prof. Asher Cohen, one of the leaders of the Kulanu ("All of Us") initiative: having the council choose the party's 50 Knesset candidates, but then holding a primary in which the general public will rank them. MK Aryeh Eldad - formerly of Moledet, but now the founder of a new party, Hatikva - is also still outside. Eldad is afraid that the new political entity will not be a home for those, like himself, who are not religiously observant. In addition, like Prof. Cohen, he believes it is impossible to bring new voters to a party if the public does not participate in choosing its Knesset slate. Cohen - whose initiative has been joined by such figures as Rabbis Elisha Vishlitsky and Yehuda Gilad; chairman of the Emunah women's movement Liora Minka; and secretary of the Religious Kibbutz Movement Nehemia Rappel - says a proper union could attract about 400,000 voters, constituting about 10 percent of all Jewish Israelis with the right to vote. That is the number of people the Central Bureau of Statistics defines as "religious" rather than "ultra-Orthodox" or "traditional." "Many of these seats went to the Likud, Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu," Cohen said. "At present, this power is split, divided and ineffective. There are eight religious MKs in the Knesset from the federation of parties of the National Union-NRP, three from Kadima, one from Likud, one from Yisrael Beiteinu. That is greater representation than ever before for the religious Zionist sector, but also weaker than ever, because of the division and the split. That is going to change." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Beatle terror Islamic militant leader threatens to kill former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney, over Israel gig. 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