MKs back memorial day for `father of voluntary transfer' By Dalia Shehori
Under a bill endorsed by 50 MKs, the state would set up a Rehavam Ze'evi Heritage Institute to receive the same resources as those allocated to the Yitzhak Rabin Heritage Institute. The bill would also dedicate a annual day of mourning for the memory of the man who put the concept of "transfer" on the public agenda.
The bill was approved in its preliminary reading on January 5 by 43 MKs, and will be discussed today by the Knesset Education and Culture Committee. Seventy MKs sponsored the bill or voted for it in January. The bill has also been approved by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation and therefore has the support of the coalition.
Former tourism minister Ze'evi, who founded the Moledet Party, was killed by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Jerusalem in 2001.
The bill was introduced by National Union MK Aryeh Eldad to perpetuate the work and heritage of Rehavam Ze'evi through the establishment "of a Rehavam Ze'evi center for the study of the history, geography and archaeology of the Land of Israel," with an emphasis on "the vision, work and heritage of Rehavam Ze'vi."
Sponsors of the bill include National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) and MK Amir Peretz (One Nation), with support coming from Shinui MKs Yosef Lapid, Avraham Poraz and Eliezer Sandberg, among others.
Eldad told Haaretz yesterday that Rabin, like Ze'evi, was a controversial figure, while Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he attributed much educational importance to perpetuating Ze'evi's memory and legacy.
Yahad MK Yossi Sarid, on the other hand, said there was no reason to establish "a monument to a racist theory."