Moving Israel Forward with<em> Kadima</em>

Kadima is the Hebrew word for moving forward, for getting up and going. It is the kind of word that a commander uses to urge on his troops or a mother to encourage their child.

Led by Prime Minister Sharon, we decided that in order to continue to move the country forward, we needed to take another courageous step to keep up the momentum that came from the Disengagement from Gaza. As painful as it was, we realized that we could not continue to implement the Prime Minister’s vision for a better future with the current party situation and hence Kadima was born.

The creation of Kadima has sparked a new interest and a revitalization of politics in our country. Many leading figures, academics, artists, industry leaders, have decided to join politics over the past few weeks, encouraged by our move to put the country’s future over narrow personal or party interests.

This immense wave of support has only reaffirmed for us that Israel wants to move forward towards a new reality. The new party will add stability to Israel’s political system and provide an exciting and viable option for those who believe in our vision of a better future for our children and grandchildren.

We believe that we must continue our ongoing dialogue with our Palestinian neighbors. The Disengagement was a first, bold step that dramatically changed the reality here and we need to continue to move forward.

The Israeli Government, led by Prime Minister Sharon, will continue in the future to seek ways to further dialogue and negotiations with the Palestinians and to increase interaction and cooperation in order to further change the reality for the benefit of both our peoples. I believe that we can succeed in achieving this goal.

One of our great Hebrew leaders, Solomon, wrote that where there is no vision, the people perish. We have a vision for this wonderful and beloved country and we are prepared to move it Kadima to fulfill its amazing potential.