MK Arye Eldad (NU/NRP) on Tuesday announced that he will be running in the next elections with a new party, Hatikva. In a Knesset press conference Eldad expressed confidence in the new party's electoral prospects, asserting, "We have the potential to garner seven seats, and we will be the surprise of the elections for the 18th Knesset."

Eldad explained that he opted not to join the new right-wing party announced Monday because the new party, comprised of the National Religious Party and the National Union, cannot serve as a home for "Land of Israel Faithfuls" who are not religious.

"I asked one of the senior figures in the [new] party if a pilot in the reserves who happens to drive on Shabbat can be a member... and I was told that it is problematic," Eldad said. "When I joined the National Union I didn't do so in order to erect a home for religious Zionism, but rather to protect the Land of Israel."

Eldad criticized Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu and claimed that his party would be "a home for those disappointed with Likud; those who do not know what Netanyahu's policy is. We will be a home to anyone who does not want to vote for [Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor] Lieberman because he intends to push for land swaps and the division of Jerusalem."

The outspoken critic of talks with the Palestinians guaranteed that his party would oppose a Palestinian state and would do everything in its power to guarantee Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount. Hatikva, Eldad said, would also advocate a law conditioning an Israeli citizen's right to be elected to the Knesset on having completed army service or National Service.

"The community of voters that currently votes for Lieberman or Likud for lack of a better alternative will be those who vote for us," he promised.

Copyright 1995- 2008 The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/