An Israeli opportunity
Did anyone know that "A poll published last Friday in Yediot Ahronot, the mass circulation newspaper, showed 78 percent of Israelis in favor of dismantling the vast majority of settlements in the framework of a peace agreement with the Palestinians."?
iht.com
The New York Times
Friday, November 1, 2002
After 19 months of trying in vain to act as a moderating force on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel's Labor Party walked out of his government on the right issue - the indefensibly high priority he gives to the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. If, as is widely expected, early elections are called, Labor should keep to its current course and offer the electorate a real alternative to existing policy.
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More than two years of Palestinian violence, military counteroffensive and reoccupation have shredded Israel's economy and left its poorest citizens without employment, education or hope. But rather than focusing on those real and growing concerns, the Sharon government is pouring millions of dollars into the settlements. This is a wrongheaded strategy not only because Israel needs those resources to meet other needs, but also because anything that causes the settlements to expand makes a future peace plan more difficult.
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Labor ministers demanded that some $145 million - a symbolic sum - be removed from the settlement budget and devoted to welfare. Sharon refused. Labor ministers, led by Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, rightly felt they had no choice but to leave.
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Israeli political analysts point out that Ben-Eliezer's move was not motivated purely by concern for the poor. He is falling behind two others in the battle for party leadership, with a vote planned for Nov. 19. Campaigning on the needs of the poor versus those of the settlers, these analysts say, is simply smart politics.
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But that is precisely the point. A poll published last Friday in Yediot Ahronot, the mass circulation newspaper, showed 78 percent of Israelis in favor of dismantling the vast majority of settlements in the framework of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Sharon has said more than once that he considers a settlement in the Gaza Strip to be indistinguishable from Tel Aviv. On Wednesday he objected fiercely when Ben-Eliezer referred to settlers as a sector, insisting that they were an integral part of the country. Sharon is the one who is out of step on this question.
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Sharon's policy has been to insist on substantial reforms in the Palestinian Authority before any negotiations can start. He is right to seek reform from the Palestinians but wrong to make it a precondition of negotiation. Again, the public shows Labor fertile political ground that could help it revive its sagging political fortunes. Ben-Eliezer acknowledged that Wednesday night when he said it was time to show the Palestinians a "diplomatic horizon."
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At the moment, Sharon remains a formidably popular figure. But that could change. When he declared his candidacy some two years ago, he was widely seen as unelectable, but he seized the public's frustrations and fears over Palestinian violence. He has not, however, brought security, and his humiliation of Yasser Arafat has set back reform efforts among the Palestinians. This offers Labor an opening to set a new path. By making settlements a make-or-break issue, it has begun on the right foot. |
