MK Vilan: Meretz should join Labor

Meretz MK suggests overhaul on political map, suggests left-wing Meretz join other Left parties to establish powerful Left-Center bloc. ‘We are becoming irrelevant. We have reached a dead end,’ Vilan says
Ilan Marciano

The left-wing Meretz party is becoming “irrelevant” and should join with other left-leaning parties to establish a central-left front with great political weight, Meretz MK Avshalom Vilan said Wednesday.

“For a long time now the Left, and Meretz in particular, are evading the real questions. We are always right, but always alone. And not just that, we are becoming irrelevant,” Vilan said.

Vilan, who was one of the founders of Peace Now in the 1970s, was elected to Knesset in 1999 and was considered staunchly left-wing and a loyal representative of the national Kibbutz movement.

Meretz at 'dead end'

Speaking to Ynet, Vilan explained, “My basic claim is that after Amir Peretz wriggled his way into the position of defense minister, and Meretz’ orientation, we have reached a dead end.”

“In the next elections the political center will disappear, and what happened with Shinui will happen to Kadima. The next center needs to be a union of Meretz and Labor. In advance of the next elections in two years, a new left-center bloc needs to be established, which will provide a true alternative and not take second seat to the right-wing party,” Vilan said.

“Our public expects something like this to happen

. It begins with a diplomatic plan and becomes an economic and social vision as well. The tragedy of Meretz is that we always mark the path, but we don’t count. We gave disengagement its majority, but Olmert didn’t count us when he established this government,” he explained.

So who will head the new party? Vilan says that right now he is not envisioning a particular candidate. “I am for setting up a large staff, and a leader will come out of it,” he says. “Up until now I spoke with few people, and now I am purposely opening the matter up for public discussion. I am trying to lead a process that will come from below.”

Attila Somfalvi contributed to the report.