Netanyahu: Livni will cede Golan

In the North, Likud leader plants tree with son, says "it will grow, extend roots for many years to come."

elections2009_248 (photo credit: )
elections2009_248
(photo credit: )
"Jerusalem will not be divided and Gamla will not fall again," Likud chairman and prime ministerial candidate Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday during a tour of the Golan Heights. Accompanied by Likud members Moshe Ya'alon, Yossi Peled, Bennie Begin and Efi Eitam, Netanyahu arrived in the North to participate in Tu Bishvat tree planting. "If Kadima wins," he said, "we will not have the Golan Heights and will only continue ceding territory. Peace is made with the strong, not the weak. Israel with the Golan Heights is a strong state and not a weak state which gives away its assets." Netanyahu was accompanied by his son Avner. Planting a eucalyptus spruce, Netanyahu said, "My son will bring his children here in a few years and tell them that their grandfather planted the tree that will grow and extend its roots for many years to come, just as we have been living in the Golan for many years." In a jab at Foreign Minister and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, Begin mentioned his late father: "When we were kids, they taught us that you don't involve parents [in an argument], but I nevertheless decided to say this: When we made peace with Egypt, Menachem Begin taught us that when you need to return territory for peace you do so under certain conditions. But this same Menachem Begin also continued to enforce Israeli law and sovereignty in the Golan Heights... both decisions had wide public acceptance," he said. Begin was referring to the frequent mention of former MK Eitan Livni, Livni's father, in Kadima's televised campaign.