National Union recruiting 1 million activists
- - - - by Duane
The National Union is looking to use the power of the people to show how 1 million people opposing disengagement could tilt the balance.
The rightist National Union Party wants to attract a database of one million Israelis who oppose Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria.
To that end, the party will kick off a new anti-disengagement campaign on Monday evening at 6:00 p.m. with a rally open to all disengagement opponents at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds. Speakers at the rally will unveil a new anti-disengagement hotline number, 1-800-203322, where callers will be asked to leave their details, with a goal of amassing a database of one million potential volunteers.
"We believe at least half the Jews in the country are opposed to the plan and that's millions," said Moledet Executive Board chairman Uri Bank, one of the organizers of the campaign and the rally. "We will mobilize the people and get them to go to Gush Katif, Samaria or elsewhere to disrupt order with non-violent civil disobedience to prevent the government from being able to implement the plan."
Bank said that if a stronghold of one million people decides not to pay a certain tax or not to cooperate with the government on a particular issue, it could have a serious effect. He said that it is important that such a campaign be led by the National Union party and not by the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip.
"The National Union sees itself as the forefront of the fight against disengagement," Bank said. "It's too easy to marginalize the disengagement opponents as just settlers. It's important that people know that the overwhelming majority of disengagement opponents don't live in the settlements."
Free transportation will be provided from all parts of the country. Speakers will include Knesset members from the National Union as well as Effi Eitam and Yitzhak Levy of the National Religious Zionist Renewal Party, who intend to join the National Union.