Security above all

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

From the Goddess paintings by Silvia Rosenberg, canvas, 35x50

Palestinian National Security Advisor Jibril Rajoub made a comprehensive cease-fire offer, apparently on Yasser Arafat’s behalf, through Israel Radio this morning; it as not an offer for hudna between the Palestinian groups, he emphasized, but a full-fledged unlimited cease-fire between all Palestinian groups and Israel, to enable the Palestinians to negotiate all the outstanding issues and end the conflict.

No official response was forthcoming – though Peace Now and Meretz were enthusiastic – but ‘government sources in Jerusalem,’ as the radio station said, utterly rejected the cease-fire proposal, calling it ‘a honey trap’ meant to entice Israel into a meaningless cease-fire. ‘Quiet is nice,’ the radio station quoted ‘the government source’ as saying, ‘but there will be no quiet until the terrorist organizations are smashed.’

With Foreign Mister Silvan Shalom telling foreign correspondents in Israel yesterday that there are no plans to kill Yasser Arafat, and that there are no operational plans right now to expel him either, the debate at the UN Security Council over the Israeli decision seemed somewhat irrelevant – except that the U.S. is indicating it might veto the resolution for being lopsided against Israel, said the Israeli press. Only a day ago, the same reporters were saying that the U.S. was likely to abstain.

In any case, Israel Radio and Army Radio were much more interested in the 19-hours government meting that began yesterday at 8 A.M. and ended today some time around 3 A.M. on the government budget for 2004.

Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu went into meeting insisting – with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s backing – that the defense budget could bear to be cut by NIS 3 billion in the context of NIS 10 billion in budget cuts Netanyahu insists will lay the foundations for economic growth.

By the end of the meeting, the defense budget cut was saved NIS 2 billion by Sharon, which meant even more cuts in education, health, and welfare – and while he won a majority for the cuts, he was facing mutinous ministers from both Likud and other parties in the coalition.

All morning, radio stations were full of interviews with people complaining about the impact of the budget on their lives, including a woman dying of cancer who apparently won’t be able to get her medicine to social activists complaining, for example, that 50,000 handicapped children will be turned away from schools.

By mid-morning, Meretz had organized the 25 signatures needed for an emergency debate in the Knesset on the government’s economic policies. ‘The people of Israel are paying the price of the Sharon government’s policy not to disengage from the Palestinians,’ said Labor Party faction whip Dalia Itzik, when asked about budget.

Labor meanwhile announced the opening of negotiations with One Nation, the three-MK faction headed by former Labor MK Amir Peretz, the Histadrut chairman. Peretz has won a strong following in the Israeli street, though he has never managed to turn it into major electoral wins at the polls. ‘Peretz wants to be Labor’s candidate against Netanyahu in the next general elections,’ said Hanan Kristal, the political commentator, explaining that Peretz returning to Labor will strengthen Shimon Peres, the ‘temporary’ chairman of the party.

The Situation Archive: June 23 2003 - Now

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