Mitzna: Cut organs to survive

Labor leadership candidate says Netanyahu must be willing to initiate peace process with Palestinians, be willing to make concessions.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Amram Mitzna 311 (photo credit: Ron Friedman)
Amram Mitzna 311
(photo credit: Ron Friedman)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu needs to take steps to initiate a diplomatic process with the Palestinians despite the agreement between Hamas and Fatah, Labor leadership candidate Amram Mitzna said on Wednesday night.
He spoke during a meeting with party activists at Labor’s branch in Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood.
RELATED:
Right, Left ready for Knesset comeback
Mitzna warned that the diplomatic stalemate would result in Israel’s relationship with the United States being harmed irrevocably.
Concessions to the Palestinians in the West Bank needed to be made for Israel’s own good, he said.
“We need to cut organs in order to survive,” Mitzna said.
“We are losing an important partner in the United States. A government that doesn’t initiate things isn’t worthy of trust.”
Labor activists in the crowd complained to Mitzna about his eight-year departure from national politics and for his plan to reserve slots on Labor’s Knesset slate for his preferred candidates. They said they were concerned that he would run the party too much like former Labor chairman Ehud Barak.
Mitzna said drastic changes needed to be made to the party’s constitution to allow the next Labor chairman to run the party effectively. He suggested eliminating slots on the list reserved for candidates from regions but keeping slots reserved for women and young people.
Another Labor leader candidate, MK Shelly Yacimovich, received a boost on Wednesday when 2002 Israel Prize laureate in economics Prof. Ariel Rubinstein joined Labor and endorsed her.
“I don’t agree with all of her views, but I will vote for Shelly, because she is the clearest voice for social change,” he said. “I will vote for Shelly because she is the only politician I know who has captured a large camp of young people with values and energy who are the only hope I see in this land.”