Herut Activists in Second Week of Hunger Strike
2006-02-21

Herut Party candidate for Knesset, Eli Yosef, together with a group of activists, are into their second week of a hunger strike protesting what they call "Israel's proximity to a civil war."
"A culture of arrogance causes both sides to slide down the dangerous slope of hatred between brothers," said a frustrated Yosef, slated sixth on the Herut list. "Instead of the necessary patience and understanding required by our current situation, we are relating to one another as enemies. It is from this arrogance that each side justifies the use of brutal force, which endangers lives and could lead to tragedy if not checked. We must therefore cleanse the national conscience through committing ourselves to national conciliation."
One Herut activist participating with Yosef in the hunger strike noted: "Herut already experienced the pain of civil war at the time of the Altalena. We have to remind the nation that Israel is one. All of us were gathered back to our soil from the four corners of the exile in order to live together as brothers in the State of Israel. Today both sides seem more concerned with being right than avoiding national catastrophe. We are obviously against the destruction of Jewish settlements and the surrender of Eretz Yisrael to our enemies, but we are equally against violence between Jews. The same Herut platform which advocates encouraging Arab emigration views Jewish national unity as an existential obligation."
This week, the hunger strikers will demonstrate at Paris Square between 4-5 p.m.

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