ELON, BENYAMIN

(Benny)

(1954- )

   Prominent settler, religious educator, and right-wing member of the Knesset. Born in Jerusalem, he and his family have resided in the West Bank religious settlement of Beit El for more than two decades, where he heads the local rabbinical seminary (yeshiva). He was first elected to the Knesset in 1996 as a member of Moledet, a party that advocated the "transfer" of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.In 1999, Moledet allied with other small parties to form the National Union (NU) Party, under the leadership of Rehavam Ze'evi. After Ze'evi's assassination in the fall of 2001, Elon was selected to replace him as Moledet leader and minister of tourism. He subsequently served two terms as tourism minister, 2001-2 and 2003—4. A strong advocate of Israel's permanent retention of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza and of continued Jewish settlement of those areas, Elon actively worked to thwart Ariel Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan (see UNILATERAL DISENGAGEMENT HITNATKUT, TOKHNIT HAHITNATKUT). He proposed an alternate plan, dubbed the "Elon Plan" by elements of the media. Elon led the NU-National Religious Party joint list to a total of nine mandates in the 28 March 2006 Knesset election.

   See also Political parties.