Storms in teacups

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Ebbing and flowing, acrylic on paper, 50x70, by Silvia Rosenberg

As if there weren't enough problems on the platter, the inherent contradiction between the National Religious Party and secularist Shinui in the same coalition finally broke into the open, with batteries of mutual recrimination and threats to quit the coalition between the two parties. The NRP lost an argument over the breakup of the Religious Affairs Ministry, padded with cronyism and nepotism and long considered the most corrupt of the government bureaucracies. Shinui's role as the senior coalition partner to the Likud won it a promise to dismantle the ministry. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon finally came down on the issue today, deciding that the Justice Ministry would get the rabbinical courts, but the chief rabbinate would be placed under a separate aegis. The NRP announced that was cause for it to quit the coalition. The ministers will recommend to the party's central committee tomorrow that the party pull out of the coalition. Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar meanwhile has hinted he might resign if the chief rabbinate loses its authority over the rabbinical courts, which are the empowered bureaucracy for marriage and divorce for Jews in the country.

The crisis will not topple Sharon's government, but it was a curious distraction on the day after the Palestinians formed an emergency government; the defense minister overruled the army and ordered all ongoing courses halted to send troops into the territories along the seam line to prevent any terror incursions during the holiday season; and the longshoreman's strike broke the billion shekel mark in costs to the economy.

Ahmed Qurei' gave an interview to Maariv, practically pleading for Israel to give the Palestinian emergency government a chance to make some order in the growing chaos of the Palestinian territories. He told Maariv he is certain he can work with the Sharon government; that he is going to promulgate laws against carrying arms in public, and will reach a cease-fire agreement with the armed factions. Qurei' has met with Sharon in the past and Qurei' associates say that he has Arafat's agreement to unify all the security services under the command of the interior minister, Nasser Yusuf -- who refused to show up for the swearing in ceremony yesterday, apparently part of a last-minute effort power struggle with Arafat over the security services. PA sources now say Yusuf will be sworn in tomorrow.

But Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, speaking at the cabinet session yesterday, poured a lot of cold water on Qurei's enthusiasm. According to Shalom, Qureia won't take military action against the armed factions and won't try to break them up. Instead, he would try to win a ‘temporary' cease-fire and thus turn international pressure on Israel to reciprocate. Shalom promised the ministers in the Sharon government that Israel has no intention of striking any deal with Arafat, whether directly or indirectly. But Israeli sources said the Bush administration is preparing to send roadmap inspector John Wolf back to the region for a new round of monitoring progress on the ground.

Meanwhile, the obvious decline in Arafat's health, evident to anyone who saw him in recent days – including TV viewers -- has been reported to have been a mild heart attack by the Guardian, but that was denied vociferously by Nabil Sha'ath. In the past week, Arafat has appeared gaunt, his voice has been low and hoarse, and he has appeared to be very tired. Last week, a Jordanian doctor reportedly treated the PA chairman for flu-like symptoms.

The talk of a limited callup of two reserve infantry battalions, combined with Mofaz's decision – against the wishes of the army command – to send all the troops currently in training courses to the West Bank to try to prevent any major terror attack inside Israel during the holiday season, was not as galvanizing an announcement as such a decision would have been in the past. Reserve callups are usually associated with major operations, indeed all out war. Using a callup for essentially defensive police patrolling along the so-called ‘seam' area of the settlements along the Green Line, was more than anti-climactic, it seemed a way of going through the motions of providing the citizenry a defense against what now seems to be a way of life. Mofaz's report to the cabinet that the woman suicide bomber from weekend massacre in Haifa came through the separation fence in a car carrying Israeli license plates only buttressed the sense of haplessness.

Meanwhile, the struggle between Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Histadrut Chairman Amir Peretz heated up, as the longshoreman's strike approached a full week – and passed the billion shekel mark in what it has cost the economy. There's no sign the two men are ready for negotiations, with Peretz accusing Netanyahu of violating signed agreements, and Netanyahu edging closer and close to accusing the longshoremen of treason. Both sides are calling for dialogue over plans to incorporate the three ports in Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat, creating competition that would lower costs. But neither side trusts the other enough to even begin such talks. Some longshoremen demonstrated outside the Haifa port today, blocking main streets with burning tires. No arrests were made. Industrialists were warning that right after Sukkot, next week, they would have to begin firing workers as their losses mount.

On the Syrian-Lebanese front, Lebanese media were reporting that Israeli planes flew the length of the country, and Hezbollah radio reported that two of the Israeli planes broke the sound barrier over Beirut. But despite the tension that erupted after Israel's air raid against a Palestinian training camp northwest of Damascus, both Hezbollah and Israeli sources were saying today that the negotiations for a prisoner deal are continuing. The latest snag is Jordan's insistence on examining those aspects of the deal concerning Jordanian prisoners being held by Israel. Amman does not want Hezbollah to get the credit for winning the release of the Jordanian prisoners, and Sharon is said to be seeking a way to free the Jordanians, as part of the deal with the Hezbollah, but to free them directly into Jordanian hands.

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The Other Israel edited by Tom Segev, and published in September 2002, is a selection of essays, articles, and other jouranlist writings by a range of Israeli voices articulating practical, legal, and moral dissent to the Israeli government. The book questions popular assumptions about Israel's true supporters: are they those who support occupation, settlement and reprisal, or those calling for reconciliation and a just settlement? The book challenges the narrow perception that Zionism means taking over 'Judea, Samaria and the Gaza dsitrict.' Contributing writers include: David Grossman * Amira Hass * Avi Shlaim * Ilan Pappe * Gideon Levy * Meron Benvenisti * Neve Gordon * Shulamit Aloni * Baruch Kimmerling * Ami Ayalon * Ze'ev Sternhell * Gila Svirsky * Uri Avnery

[an error occurred while processing this directive] in Frosties, the anthology of quotations

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