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Political declaration
YISRA'EL BA'ALIYA is a party formed by new immigrants, a party which consistently upholds the interests, rights and dignity of the new immigrants, a party of the country's new citizens
The continuation of Aliya (new immigration) is a guarantee of continued existence and prosperity of the Jewish State. This is why we insist on changing the national priorities and, in the first place, those which involve new immigration. The Aliya and the new immigrants' well-being is the main priority of the state.
We regard full and dignified integration of the new immigrants into all spheres of the country's social and political life as the first and foremost task of the state.
Yisra'el Ba'Aliya is an active participant of the process of consolidation of our people, society and the state. The party representing the new immigrants radically intervenes into the solution of national tasks in politics, economy, education and culture.
We are convinced of the urgent necessity of political reforms which would promote the transformation of Israel from a state which is a refuge for the Jews into the center of attraction for the Jews throughout the world, a state which will be attractive for the Diaspora Jewry, a state which will gather the Diaspora Jewry as a society of high spiritual culture, a country with a high level and quality of life, a Jewish State in the full sense of the word which offers greatest possibilities for full economic and spiritual self-realization of citizens of the 21st century Israel.
We understand integration not as a total submission of the community to the mode and style of life and the nature of social relations which had formed in Israel by the time of arrival of the new immigrants, but -- in the first place -- as the enrichment of all spheres of the country's life with the experience, talent and creative potential of the new immigrants; we understand integration as a dialog between cultures and traditions directed at their mutual enrichment and spiritual growth of both sides: the Aliya and the country's indigenous culture.
Yisra'el Ba'Aliya asserts: the Diaspora Jews have no future without Israel, and, without ties with the Diaspora, Israel will lose its vital energy, its national and spiritual identity and uniqueness, and turn into just another small Levantine republic. Therefore, we believe it necessary to reform mutual relations between the State of Israel and the Diaspora, and we say it again: Israel is the center of attraction for the Jews of the world, but the life-style, traditions and interests of Jewish communities of the Diaspora must be fully respected. We categorically oppose the accepted practice of condescending paternalism in reference to Jewish communities of the world.
The security of Israel and of the Jewish people is the main foreign policy priority for the Yisra'el Ba'Aliya party.
We stand for a peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but a settlement based on strict compliance by our partners with all previously reached arrangements.
Recognizing the right of every people to be master of its own destiny, we are firmly convinced that international agreements and territorial concessions are impossible if they jeopardize the security of our state.
From our point of view, the establishment of a lasting peace in the Middle East and the signing of peace treaties with our neighbors must be made directly dependent on the processes of democratization of today's authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes which are our present and potential partners in the peace process.
Only the adoption by our neighbors of modern principles of democracy, only bringing their legislation and practical policies into the channel of renunciation of aggressive principles, and the sharing by them of general humanitarian principles in the sphere of human rights, that is, the transformation of their state systems in accordance with the international standards, will make it possible for us to regard them as partners in the peace process worthy of our confidence.
Jerusalem is a united and indivisible capital of Israel. We admit of no compromises as far as the status of Jerusalem is concerned.
Our party stands against the idea of transfer of either the Arab or the Jewish population. We stand against the liquidation of Jewish settlements under any version of the peace settlement. The settlers' movement represents the Zionist principle which we fully share.
Today, Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and this fact should not be disregarded. The nature of mutual relations with our neighbors and our readiness for a territorial compromise must depend on the degree of democratization of those regimes with which we deal in our negotiations.
There can be no opposition, no free press, no public opinion under the conditions of a totalitarian regime, so whatever could serve as a guarantee of compliance with the agreements reached is simply non-existent.
We recognize the necessity of maintaining special relations with the United States. Yisra'el Ba'Aliya proposes to develop relations with the countries of Europe and continue active cooperation with the European Community. We should develop and deepen mutual relations with the countries of Eastern Europe and of the CIS which offer positive prospects from the point of view of the market. The Russian-speaking community is a bridge between Israel and these countries.
It is only natural that a party whose main electoral basis is represented by people arriving from the USSR and the CIS strives to achieve an all-round development of relations with the countries of origin of its own electorate.
We stand for the acceleration of demonopolization and the completion of the privatization process of state enterprises. We stand for a reduction of state intervention in the economic sphere. However, the problems of such paramount importance and scale as those of new immigration and the integration of new immigrants must be resolved, in principle, in a centralized way and at the state level. It is just in the same way -- in a centralized manner and at the level of the state -- that decisions involving balanced social policies and state-provided social security for the socially unprotected strata of the population must be taken. No privatization must be allowed to affect the country's new citizens who have not yet managed to become firmly established in the country. No radical reforms infringing on the rights of the socially unprotected strata of the population are admissible.
We insist on a reduction of the state machinery, the curtailment of expenses on officials of all levels, beginning with the Government and down to the municipal level.
We stand for the greatest possible attraction of foreign capital to the country. Israel must by all means use its advantage: the highly qualified manpower. We shall continue our course aimed at the development of science-intensive technologies.
Yisra'el Ba'Aliya believes that the mainstream solution of the unemployment problem among the new immigrants must consist in the retraining of specialists for employment of the high-tech sphere. This way has proved its effectiveness and helped thousands of new immigrants obtain employment in this sphere.
The development of small-scale businesses in the period of high unemployment and economic stagnation also promises an effective solution of the employment problem. We are going to continue our activities aimed at the development of small-scale businesses, a sphere where numerous new immigrants have already found employment.
Yisra'el Ba'Aliya considers the solution of the new immigrants' housing problem as well as that of the socially unprotected strata of the society as its most important task, and the party will strive to solve this task by increased construction of social housing, the continuation of the practice of long-term rent of apartments in the private market, carrying out housing construction projects by way of creation of the new immigran' housing societies (amutot), tying-up the amount of the state-provided mortgage loans (mashkantas) and subsidies for the rent of housing to the main economic indicators, and the construction of small apartments.
We are taking the problem of education out of the framework of the so-called social problems. The future of our country will depend on whether or not we are able to reform our school system in accordance with the requirements of the 21st century.
We will get our way and lay down the foundations on which a modern Israeli school system will be built, a foundation providing for the full value, modernity and high quality of education, for the use of experience accumulated by the advanced Israeli and Russian pedagogical science, and for bringing up the younger generation in the national traditions. Our children must receive the best education in the world.
The Israeli public health system is suffering from a chronic crisis today. There is no other way to relieve the lot of the patients than by increasing the number of beds in hospitals and, to achieve this aim, new hospitals must be built where new immigrant doctors will be employed, among others. We will continue our struggle for the equal rights of doctors from among the new immigrants and for the recognition of their professional status.
We are the party of new immigrants which means we are the party of people of a high cultural and educational level. The heritage of world civilization and our national values are not empty notions for the new immigrants from the CIS countries. We have supported and continue to support all actions aimed at raising the prestige of Israeli culture and art. We shall continue the policy of state support for the Russian-language literature and culture. We will not allow culture to be reduced to the level of a non-obligatory appendix to the post-industrial society. We represent a huge cultural potential of the new immigration from Russia, and it is not without our contribution that Israel has forever got rid of the image of cultural provinciality.
The new immigrant youth are a hope for Israel. Yisra'el Ba'Aliya strives to unite all those who feel their responsibility for their country's future and who intend to make their contribution to the determination of the way we are going to follow, the way that would lead us into the new century. Tackling the problems faced by new immigrant school-children, servicemen, college and university students, we shall do everything possible so that our party could become the natural entity to turn to for those who are young and who wish to achieve the realization of their capabilities, ambitions and potentialities.
We intend to purposefully strive for the adoption by the 15th Knesset of all our legislative initiatives in the field of social security for the new immigrants put forward in the 14th Knesset. Our legislative proposals will become laws in the course of the 15th Knesset's period of authority.
We will ensure the adoption of legislative provisions making the amount of social welfare subsidies independent of either possessing an automobile or receiving reparations from Switzerland or Germany. The National Insurance Institute (Bituakh Leumi) must not deprive the new immigrants receiving social welfare subsidies of the right to work and the possibility to save money on their banking accounts.
We insist on the adoption of laws on the veterans of World War II, on the liquidators of consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, on children who were prisoners of concentration camps, and on new immigrants' widows.
We consider it necessary to resolve the problem of the remittance of pensions from the CIS countries.
We consider religious diktat, religious intolerance and political speculations based on religion inadmissible. The problems existing between the religious and secular sections of the population must be resolved not by way of religious wars but in the course of a balanced, mutually respectful dialog.
We have already managed to resolve some part of the problems involving the new immigrants' personal status. Today, there are no longer any obstacles to passing the guiyur [conversion to Judaism] procedure; the burial problem for non-Jews has also been resolved.
The situation under which young couples have to conclude marriages in Cyprus is inadmissible.
We shall continue to put up a resolute opposition to all attempts at slandering both the new immigrants from the CIS countries and the representatives of other communities and social groups, as well as to pinning labels on them. Not a single insult directed at new immigrants will be allowed to go unpunished. The responsibility for defamation in the media will be borne not only by the author, but also by the editor who permitted the publication of an article denigrating our dignity.
We shall fight all manifestations of anti-Semitism in any corner of the globe.
YISRA'EL BA'ALIYA is the only real party of the new immigrants. We have already proved our power, the power of our unity, and it is only under our banner that the unification under equal conditions of the representatives of all communities is possible, the unification of believers and atheists, right-wingers and left-wingers...
YOUR OPINION IS IMPORTANT TO US
Free telephone of the party's Election Campaign Center: 1-800-21-90-90
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