Interesting op-ed on Palestinian opinion, from a left-wing Israeli opinion:
The Palestinian choice
By Danny Rubinstein
The Palestinian public is keenly aware of its ability to influence elections in Israel. Much has been said in the territories about the events of the spring of 1996, when a series of suicide attacks on buses in Israel did serious political harm to Shimon Peres, and led to the victory of Benjamin Netanyahu. What will happen, then, in the current round of elections?
This weekend, Professor Sari Nusseibeh, the president of Al Quds University and the man in charge of the PLO's diplomatic contacts in Jerusalem, published a front-page article in the widely-circulated daily Al Quds. He called for restraint and for moderate Palestinian statements, as a means of influencing Israeli voters to cast their ballots for parties in the left and center.
Nusseibeh did not know that the attack in Hebron would take place the same day his article appeared, and offered this explanation to his Palestinian countrymen: there is a large public of voters in Israel who are vacillating between right-wing and left-wing parties. They are concerned most of all for their personal security.
Nusseibeh wrote that through both word and deed, the Palestinians have the power to make Israelis more worried or less worried about security.
His message is clear: "The lines of a horizon of peace have to be drawn for the Israelis; we have to let the Israelis understand that they have a partner on the other side, who recognizes them and their state."
In his opinion, Palestinian interests require that a coalition of peace crystallize in Israel, and not a coalition of the extreme right that would lead to a further delay in negotiations.
This opinion is seemingly shared by many in the Palestinian leadership. Khatem Abdul Kader, a member of the Palestinian parliament from Jerusalem, explains the familiar political formula by which extremists on both sides sustain each other: "Hamas and Jihad on the Palestinian side, and Likud and the right on the Israeli side - all serve one another's interests. There is no coordination, of course, between them, but they have a common interest of pointing up the fact that this is an uncompromising struggle." To his mind, the political reality confirms this; when Hamas gains strength, so too does the Likud.
This line of reasoning presumably applies to other diplomatic sources, as well. It is no coincidence that when word got out that Israel was heading toward elections, the Egyptians tried to promote a dialogue between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (in the aim of pressuring Hamas to suspend terrorist attacks), and President Mubarak sent his intelligence chief, General Omar Suleiman, here. Lurking behind the Egyptian initiative are the Saudis - and European diplomats - who share the belief that a suspension of the terrorist attacks could influence the Israeli voter, and draw him closer to the parties in the left and center.
Nonetheless, a majority of the Palestinian public almost certainly holds the opposite opinion. Sari Nusseibeh may think that Palestinian interests require a coalition of peace, but it is more common to hear Palestinians saying that they in fact prefer a right-wing coalition in Israel. This would prove to Israelis just how ineffective are the militant politics of the Likud and its partners.
Ever since Ariel Sharon formed his government, critics all over the West Bank and Gaza have proudly pointed out that he did not succeed in reducing the violence or stopping the terrorist attacks. Rather, the opposite is the case: in his tenure, the violent clashes reached new heights, and Israel found itself mired in economic and social crisis. Against this background, patrons of the coffee houses near the Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem on Saturday saw much symbolism in the fact that immediately after Shaul Mofaz and Benjamin Netanyahu's appointments to the cabinet, Islamic Jihad held a reception in their honor in Hebron.
Nevertheless, it is abundantly clear that the Palestinian street now feels that it is actually good if the right governs Israel; this is the only way Israelis will learn how powerless the right really is - and may in turn germinate the seeds of a just settlement.
haaretzdaily.com |
