Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., December 19, 2008 Kislev 22, 5769 | | Israel Time: 02:34 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate GA 2008 Travel Week's End Anglo File

Ballot Box Former refusenik Yosef Mendelevitch has joined the radical right-wing Our Land of Israel party led by Baruch Marzel and Rabbi Dov Volpo. During the 1960s Mendelevitch formed a secret society in the former Soviet Union dedicated to the study of Hebrew and Judaism. In 1970, he was involved in an attempt to hijack a small plane from an airport near St. Petersburg to reach Israel. He was caught and sentenced to life in prison. Mendelevitch's sentence was later commuted to 12 years of hard labor in a Siberia, where he met fellow refusenik Natan Sharansky. In 1981 he was transferred by the KGB secret service to Moscow, where he was told he did not deserve to be a citizen of the USSR. He was stripped of his Soviet citizenship and promptly deported to Israel. In recent weeks Our Land of Israel has increased its attacks on the newly-created Habayit Hayehudi party, with which it is vying for the religious Zionist vote. Our Land of Israel officials said that Habayit Hayehudi is not loyal to preserving the unity of the Land of Israel. (Nadav Shragai) Fifth place on the Likud roster, Benny Begin visited Tel Aviv's Tichon Hadash high school yesterday and told pupils that he did not believe peace with the Palestinians is obtainable in the near future. "There's no chance of signing a peace treaty or having neighborly relations with our neighbors in Judea and Samaria or Gaza," the politician, who is the son of former prime minister Menachem Begin, said, using the biblical names for the West Bank. "Whoever wants to call my opinion extremist can do so but we're going to have to defend ourselves for years to come." Begin said that the U.S. is increasingly realizing the impossibility of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians, and that despite the predicted hardships Israel will still be able to maintain prosperity. Begin rejected accusations from his critics that his politics were detached from reality. "As the elections approach many people realize that it is the extremists, weirdos and astronauts - all nicknames applied to me over the years - that are much more connected to reality than the people who gave them such nicknames," Begin responded. (Ofri Ilani) Advertisement Israeli Arab activists for Meretz voiced their disapproval of the party's plan to merge with other political movements at expense of bumping their community's representatives down on its roster for the Knesset. They said removing Israeli Arab politician Esawi Frag down from the seventh place will hurt the party's standing in their community. Yesterday Meretz party members from the Israeli Arab community, including Frag, signed a petition against changing the Israeli Arab's place on the list. "The intention to include other people and communities in the party is a blessing but such expansion must not come at the expense of the party's Jewish-Arab cooperation," they said. Frag was cautious not to sound too critical of the party and said he would "act from within" so that the motion is accepted." (Jack Khoury) The Israel Media Watch organization yesterday submitted a complaint against Channel 2 political analyst Amnon Abramovich for alleged bias in expressing unflattering personal opinions about Likud party's Knesset roster on television. The organization said Abramovich was out of line when he said: "Anyone who votes for Likud MKs past the 19th place on the slate will be putting people they wouldn't invite to their own homes in the Knesset." The organization said it was only one of several inappropriate remarks. The veteran Channel 2 journalist responded to the complaint yesterday, saying that Israel's Media Watch was a right-wing organization, which has harassed him and others in the media for years. In most instances, he said, their complaints have lacked any basis. (Gili Izikovich) Bookmark to del.icio.us   Picking up the pieces U.S. Jews ponder 'catastrophic' effects of Bernard Madoff affair. Little Adolf Three-year-old Adolf Hitler finally gets his name on his birthday cake.

Read & React 3-year-old Adolf Hitler finally gets his name on his birthday cake Responses: 177 Barak: Iran could attack the U.S. with a nuclear bomb Responses: 132 Britain steps up fight against West Bank settlements Responses: 180 Leftist U.S. Jewish group backs Israelis who shun IDF draft Responses: 68 Jews of Yemen reportedly to be relocated in wake of deadly attack Responses: 33 More Headlines 00:14 Israel: We hold Hamas responsible for any future Gaza violence 01:10 Olmert: It is possible to negotiate peace deal with Syria 01:12 Eilat crash driver under house arrest; bodies of Russian victims flown home 23:34 Labor youth hand out condoms to avoid being 'screwed by Netanyahu' 02:32 Shady land deal unfolds from West Bank to California strip mall 00:04 IN PICTURES / The victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud scam 00:04 Palestinian journalists protest for release of Iraqi colleague who threw shoes at Bush 20:29 Want to help improve the Haaretz.com homepage? 01:54 Bush, Rice to host Palestinian leader Abbas in goodbye visit 22:28 Radioactive bomb-detection system installed in Haifa port 01:41 Netanyahu to Sarkozy: Israel can`t accept ongoing Gaza rocket fire 01:14 VIDEO / Hadassah Women: We lost $90 million in Madoff's Wall Street scam 15:53 School teacher dies after falling eight meters into Golan Heights stream 12:11 Israel bites back at UN watchdog over alleged strike on Syria reactor 10:59 Leftist U.S. Jewish group backs Israelis who shun IDF enlistment 14:46 Dozens of police officers injured in botched civil unrest drill 10:17 Exclusive Jewish country club feels the sting of Madoff fraud Previous Editions Select Day 18 dec 17 dec 16 dec 15 dec 14 dec 12 dec 11 dec 10 dec 09 dec 08 dec 07 dec 05 dec

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