Israeli nationalist party vows to oppose new pullouts

Benny Elon, who was sacked from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet over his opposition to last year's pullout from the Gaza Strip, said the party would fiercely oppose any fresh withdrawals from the West Bank.

"We won't allow the uprooting of any Jewish community and the creation of a Palestinian state between the (Mediterranean) sea and the Jordan river," said Elon who is the party's chief candidate on Tuesday.

The list standing in Israel's March 28 election unites the National Union and the National Religious Party, two religious Zionist parties which draw much of their support from Israel's settler movement.

It has yet to finalise its name.

Ehud Olmert, who has taken over as acting prime minister since Sharon suffered a brain haemorrhage, said last week that determining the Jewish state's permanent borders would be his government's top priority.

It was his strongest indication yet that he was preparing a new round of pullouts.

Effi Eitam, who also left the cabinet over his opposition to Sharon's disengagement plan and has joined the list, said the main right-wing Likud party could not be trusted to prevent further uprooting of settlers from Palestinian land.

Sharon was a member of Likud during the pullout from Gaza although he later formed a new party, Kadima.

"The Likud abandoned hundreds of thousands of right-wing voters," Eitam said. "We intend to replace the Likud in the leadership of the right."

The new nationalist list is predicted to secure around 10 seats in next month's election, which opinion polls say should be won easily by Olmert's Kadima party.

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