Youth attack Meretz leaders' sell-out
"Don't count on us for the next elections!" Under this headline, the Meretz Youth [Meretz is the junior partner in the Israeli coalition government] announced its independence, in a letter distributed during several sessions of the councils of Mapam and Ratz, component parties of the Meretz Alliance.
"On December 16, 1992", said the letter, "the Meretz representatives in the government voted for the deportation to Lebanon, without trial, of more than 400 Palestinians. The organisation hitherto known as 'Meretz Youth' informs all organs, Knesset members and ministers of Meretz that it can no longer share in the responsibility for the actions of the party representatives, due to the latest developments. From now on, there is no connection between us and these representatives, just as there is no connection between the behaviour of these representatives and the principles on which they were elected.
"While Meretz claimed to be the force that brings about change, today Meretz has turned into a force against change; a force that makes things worse, a force that brings about deportation. Meretz Youth hereby announces the change of its name to Meretz Program Youth. We stand for the principles of Meretz and not for this bunch of 'doormats', and 'wretches' into which the Meretz elected representatives have turned, so shortly after being elected. Deportation is not human, is not serving any purpose, is not Meretz. Therefore, we don't accept the situation as final; we continue our struggle until the Meretz representatives express penitence over what they have done."
On January 3, Meretz ministers Aloni, Tzaban, and Rubinstein — who arrived at a public meeting organised by Meretz in Tel Aviv — got a cold reception from the party youths. The youths, who were waiting on the steps of the Journalists House, greeted the ministers with shouts and signs calling them "chickens".
Inside, the ministers were grilled by party activists, some of whom demanded they resign. The meeting often degenerated into shouting matches between supporters and opponents of the Meretz leadership. The main line of apology of the ministers was to claim that "they had also done many wonderful things".
[From The Other Israel/Pegasus.]