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Likud MKs angry as PM seeks to relocate settlers
By Mazal Mualem

Tensions are rising in Likud over yesterday's comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the need to evacuate illegal outposts in the West Bank in order to allow the government to focus on the real priority - dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat.

Netanyahu caught his party colleagues unprepared yesterday when he backed Defense Minister Ehud Barak's stance on the outposts, saying that, "The Defense Minister and I work in a coordinated fashion. He does not run an independent policy. During the election campaign I said we are a country where the law reigns and that we would deal with the matter of illegal outposts, if possible through dialogue and agreements, as the defense minister is doing. These days are not normal. I am asking for your understanding, your trust and your support."
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Likud colleagues believe Netanyahu is working on a political program that will include the evacuation of the outposts and that he is preparing the ground in the party for such moves. "We understood that the timetable is short and we are embarking on steps that will not be popular," a senior Likud MK said yesterday.

During the Likud faction meeting, Netanyahu stressed that the evacuation of outposts will take several weeks, and will not be a long, drawn-out affair. Among the ministers opposed to the removal of outposts are Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon, and Ministers Yuli Edelstein and Gilad Erdan, as well as most party MKs.

"This was an [Ariel] Sharon-like speech," one Likud MK described Netanyahu's statements, referring to Sharon's volte-face and his decision to evacuate the Gaza Strip settlements.

"Bibi [Netanyahu] needs to remember that the right wing drops prime ministers, not the left," another senior Likud MK said.

MK Danny Danon warned that he will not allow "a plan like the disengagement to repeat itself. I will make sure that Likud promises to our constituency will be kept."

As the Likud faction was meeting in the Knesset, Labor chairman Barak echoed Netanyahu when he told his party colleagues that "we will work to remove the outposts through dialogue. If that fails, we will do so unilaterally with the use of appropriate force. There is no need to say any more - we will begin operations in the coming weeks. A country must maintain authority vis-a-vis its citizens."

Netanyahu placed his statements in a historic context: "We are living in unusual times. The danger is steadily approaching. The gravest danger lies in not identifying the danger. My job is to identify the danger to Israel. Our situation in 1996 and 1999 is nothing like the situation today. We need broad unity in order to counter the threat. Who will lead the defense against the threat? Unless we do so, no one else will. In this difficult situation leadership is needed."

In essence, Netanyahu defined his new priorities for his colleagues: the threat of a nuclear Iran tops the list, superseding settlement construction.

Nonetheless, most of his colleagues spoke vehemently in favor of expanding settlement activity. Erdan was scathing in his condemnation of the Sasson report, which criticized the settlements.

"The Sasson report should be tossed into the garbage bin of history," he said "She [Talia Sasson] was a candidate for Meretz and presented the settlements as the greatest disaster, mixing all outposts into one. The report cannot be considered seriously."
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