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Commentary :: Israel / Palestine
Leftist Israeli Commentary On Sharon Government's Reshuffle Current rating: 0
05 Nov 2002
A leftist perspective on Sharon's call for elections: "the economy is collapsing and Sharon has blown it as prime minister. For the good of the state, we need early elections, and fast. On the other hand, who wants Bibi back in power?" Also contains an interesting comment on the Israeli equivalent of campaign soft money.
On the other hand

By Yoel Marcus

1. With the hazing Sharon is going through at the moment, the tables have turned: now it's the hazer who is being hazed. Bibi's "yes" when he means "no" is insulting. Lieberman is in no hurry to supply him the majority he needs. From an international perspective, Sharon has lost his standing as a prime minister who enjoys national consensus. In the eyes of the world, he is now the head of a right-wing extremist government minus the checks and balances of Shimon Peres and company. On the other hand, now that Labor has quit, Sharon may surprise us by showing more moderation, more restraint, more receptiveness to the "road map," and maybe even more willingness to dismantle outposts. In order to preserve his one last asset - the Bush administration - Sharon is walking on eggshells. The polls predict that the Likud will win the next elections in any case, but those same polls reveal a public that overwhelmingly supports packing up most of the settlements. It's no accident that Sharon is sticking to the basic guidelines he drew up with Labor (based on the Oslo Accords). He'll do anything to stay on center stage.

2. For a prime minister to hold five portfolios is not proper administrative practice. On the other hand, it's a golden opportunity to consolidate them and abolish artificial ministries that gobble up money and serve no purpose. Sharon will have a leaner government and the means to make it up to the elderly, robbed of their money and their self-respect.

3. Everyone agrees that Fuad's career is coming to an end, now that Ramon and Mitzna have made a secret pact to run together and head the party as a team. Ramon will contribute the experience and Mitzna the integrity. On the other hand, there is always a danger, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw's famous put-down of a woman who said that her body and Shaw's brains would produce the perfect child, that the child will inherit Mitzna's experience and Ramon's integrity.

4. Many words have been written bawling out the millionaires, the ultra rich creme de la creme, for their involvement in the crisis that brought down the unity government. In politics, money talks. This is true in democracies all over the world. Without a bit of money on the side, it's hard to get into power. Former MK Shevah Weiss once complained that his legal campaign budget didn't even cover the cost of sending letters to party members announcing his candidacy. Looking at the kind of money that flows in elections, it's easy to understand why politicians are so dependent on the wealthy. The rich buy themselves respect and the right to rub shoulders with political bigwigs, and possibly advance their business interests in the bargain. On the other hand, some of our millionaires really do care and do have good intentions. Even if they do what they do for the sake of heaven, they depend on concessions and other benefits from the government. Instead of doling out advice and bemoaning the bitterness of our fate, maybe they should roll up their sleeves and dive in. The political waters may be cold, but this country cannot rely entirely on retired generals.

5. Parachuting a chief of staff straight into the defense minister's seat doesn't exactly conform with proper norms. On top of that, the considerations behind this appointment are hardly pure and innocent. Sharon has kidnapped Mofaz, of whom he does not think very highly, in order to keep him from hooking up with Bibi. The worry of the media and the politicians is that Mofaz will act like a commander in chief and give orders to expel Arafat, destroy the Palestinian Authority and reoccupy the territories. On the other hand, these gloomy prophecies may not be technically capable of coming true. Mofaz is not an MK or a member of the Likud. He has no political base, and his term of office may be over in a couple of months. As a chief of staff, Sharon thought he was too much of a softie and didn't do enough. Mofaz is a level-headed man who has been sucked into the leadership vacuum in this country. In Israel, the distribution of power goes likes this: the prime minister holds the steering wheel and the chief of staff steps on the gas. The job of the defense minister is to hit the brakes. He has the opening stats that could get him on the prime minister track - if he presses the right pedal.

6. On the one hand, Bibi's "yes, but" to Sharon is justified: the economy is collapsing and Sharon has blown it as prime minister. For the good of the state, we need early elections, and fast. On the other hand, who wants Bibi back in power?


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My Own Comments
Current rating: 0
05 Nov 2002
In the immediate short term, this is better news than it sounds. Sharon was given a list of straight-from-the-Twilight-Zone demands from a couple of fringe parties -- stuff like a promise not to form a Unity government with Labor after the election, crushing the PA even _more_, promising there will never be a Palestinian state, etc.

Sharon said, in the press conference, that "elections are the last thing the country needs right now," but agreeing to the gonzo demands of the farthest-right would simply have done too much damage to the US/Israeli relationship.

So -- for once -- Sharon has refused to lurch yet further rightward. Thank heaven for small blessings.

The real problem -- assuming that Hamas et al. react as they always do, intensifying the suicide bombings in the weeks before each election since Oslo so as to force the Israeli electorate rightward and away from any compromise that might lead to a two-state solution -- is that in February there is the possiblity that Likud can win enough seats that it won't have to choose between a Unity government or a narrow right-to-far-right coalition. The reappearance of Netanyahu on the scene -- despite what had been the general consensus that his previous administration, ushered in via a squeaker that turned on the first of the suicide bombings in 1996, was a scandal-ridden disaster -- strikes me as a sorta sign of desperation.

Unfortunately, the one thing that's least likely to happen is a resurgence of the left, who feel the Palestinians played them for fools by failing to live up the their responsibilities with Oslo.

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Peres' Post-mortem On The Sharon Government
Current rating: 0
05 Nov 2002
Here's Peres' comments about Sharon's misguided policies, from today's Haaretz.
-----
Because of the stammering

By Shimon Peres

When the nation has people hungry for bread, the social issue must be at the top of our agenda. But it is impossible to correct the social situation without correcting the economy itself. As long as investments in Israel are not renewed and tourists don't come back, as long as the flow of capital out of Israel isn't stopped and budgets are disbursed according to parochial demands, the economy will not recover. And as long as the security situation is unstable, the basic conditions for social and economic deterioration will not change.

Five conditions are necessary to correct this situation:

- There must be Palestinian cooperation in the war on terror. The Palestinians will not agree to become collaborators and if we want their cooperation we have to present them with a clear political horizon. That horizon is the vision in President Bush's speech, accompanied by the Quartet's plan: A permanent solution based on two states that live side by side. In my meetings with Palestinians a few days ago, I made it clear that there is no chance Israel will accept the Palestinian plan, just as there is no chance of the Palestinians accepting the Israeli plan. The only way for both peoples is to accept the international compromise supported now by almost all the world and by a majority of people in both nations. Without international support, the Palestinians will not be able to establish a state and Israel will find it difficult to attain peace. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he accepts the Bush vision, but he is not ready to bring that position to the government for approval. Stammering does not make policy.

- An agreement with the Palestinians must - and can - be drawn up in such a way that things are done simultaneously: a war on terror; negotiations for a permanent solution; Palestinian governmental reforms. If we condition one element on the other, everything will remain stuck, just as it has been stuck for two years.

- New settlement construction must be frozen and we must announce that we are ready to include removal of settlements in any permanent agreement, as proposed by President Clinton at Camp David. The settlements have taken a heavy toll on Israeli society. They have gobbled up budgets and made it difficult to draw a map of peace or security for Israel.

- Sharon claims he agreed to the principles laid out in the Abu Ala-Peres understandings. But he rejects the timetable as too short. In my opinion, there's no time to waste. The levels of tension and terror in the region are so high that the quicker we progress toward a permanent agreement the more all sides will benefit.

- Within three or four years there will be a new Middle East or a nuclear Middle East, swarming with various range missiles and terrorists in every corner. There will be either a Middle East rife with fear, hostility and poverty or a Middle East that will rid itself of the combination of modern weaponry and backward economies. It could be a Middle East that will have to cooperate in infrastructure, economic management and in industry and services based on new technologies, as has happened in Europe, as is happening in China, India, Latin America and elsewhere. Israel must be among the leaders of that new Middle East and overcome the cynics and skeptics.

The right wing tried - and we tried to help it - to achieve peace, security and economic growth. The effort failed because of stammering, hesitation, procrastination and lost horizons. The mandate has gone back to the people and the people must decide to escape social poverty and political failure.

----

While I'm at it, here's an excerpt from today's lead editorial, covering similar ground:

----

The policy of force that Sharon applied in the occupied territories did not put an end to terrorism against Israeli citizens. The war he declared against the Palestinian Authority exacted the largest blood price that Israel has paid since the Lebanon War. Israel's relations with its neighbors, Egypt and Jordan, hit a new nadir. His evasion of every initiative for resuming diplomatic activity and the continued expansion of the settlements eroded Israel's status in Europe. The security deterioration and the diplomatic standstill raised the unemployment rate, reduced economic activity, impaired growth and also recently affected the country's international credit rating.

Despite the heavy price that a political crisis will exact and the problematic timing of the election, the collapse of the outgoing government can only be welcomed. It will be remembered as one of the worst governments in Israel's history. It must now be hoped that the upcoming election will produce a coalition wise enough to repair the damage and restore the country to the right path.

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