January 26, 2003

Mitzna prays for miracle at Western Wall

By The Jerusalem Post Staff

Seeking divine assistance for his fading campaign on Friday, Labor Party Chairman Amram Mitzna visited the Western Wall and later the grave of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Mitzna, wearing a white kippa, quietly touched the ancient stones. Police and security guards crowded tightly around him, as worshipers recited morning prayers. Mitzna placed a note in one of the Wall's crevices, a generations-old tradition of seeking divine intervention.

"Miracles can happen," said MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, standing shoulder to shoulder with Mitzna.

"We are all for Mitzna," read stickers sported by Labor politicians who accompanied him to the Wall in a show of solidarity.

But a young man on the edge of the heavily guarded compound below the Dome of the Rock shrine and al-Aksa Mosque had sharp words for the politician, who advocates immediate peace talks with the Palestinians and Israeli withdrawal from occupied land.

"All you want to do is give things back. You are in favor of a Palestinian state. All you want to do is just give back everything - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, everything," the man shouted in American-accented English.

Mitzna then visited Rabin's grave on Mount Herzl, where he and Ben-Eliezer stood side by side gazing solemnly at the black marble tombstone. In keeping with Jewish tradition, Mitzna placed a stone on the grave.

"It is important to come and visit this place, because we are here to continue Rabin's way," Mitzna told reporters. "We cannot bring him back to life, but we are able to continue what he started."

In an attempt to portray the fractured Labor Party as united, Mitzna publicly hugged his erstwhile rival, Ben-Eliezer, in a campaign event at the Plugot Junction on Friday. Mitzna and Ben-Eliezer are set to tour the South jointly on Sunday. Other possible challengers to Mitzna's leadership, Matan Vilna'i and Ephraim Sneh, are to join Mitzna on the tour.

Mitzna canceled a planned visit to the Jewish community in Hebron after community leaders expressed opposition to his visit.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday visited the scene of a Kassam rocket attack in Sderot, which miraculously caused no casualties.

Sharon, accompanied by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, traveled to the town near his ranch in an attempt to boost residents' morale. Five rockets landed in Sderot, causing some damage but harming no one.

"On occasion the terrorists manage to achieve their objectives," Sharon said. "This is a protracted war, but we have already faced far more difficult situations and we never despaired."

Sharon told residents that, despite the difficult situation, the town's citizens are strong and will endure. "Even in this situation we will prevail," he said.

Mofaz told reporters that, after consultations with Sharon, a number of steps would be taken that would "shock the area from where today and in the past Kassam rockets were fired." A short time later, the IDF entered Beit Hanoun and destroyed four bridges that connected the town to Gaza City.

IDF tanks reentered Gaza late Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, Sharon will convene the last weekly cabinet meeting before Tuesday's election.

--------------------------------------------
ELECTIONS 2003 HOME PAGE