Simon Rosenblum

Diaspora Jews are entitled to a voice, but not a vote, on Israeli issues, so here are my thoughts on strategy for the Israeli left.

The Israeli left/peace movement has not been hawkish enough or dovish enough. It should be more clearly dovish on territorial issues and more hawkish on security concerns. The Israeli people need to know where the goalposts are, and when it is appropriate to move the yardsticks. The Yossi Beilin/Abu Mazen territorial arrangements should have been brought before the Israeli people in a forthright way. It was/is an honourable arrangement, and as we know only too well, if we don't stake out our turf, someone else will do it for us. The right is only too happy to suggest what we the left are ready to give away. Why not do so ourselves in order to better control misrepresentation, and to give the Palestinians an accurate sense of what to expect from a left Israeli government in final status talks?

We should not be shy in expressing what we expect regarding security from the Palestinians and Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu keeps talking about reciprocity, but why should the devil have all the good tunes? The left - as the Israeli patriots they are - should be the first to call Arafat to account on security issues, and he certainly provides plenty of opportunities to do so. Some might say that this will weaken our position, because it lends credibility to what the right is saying. I suggest that on the contrary, it will significantly increase our credibility because the Israeli public will come to trust us more. Besides, it is the right thing to do.

We are in the business of struggling for a secure peace, so the security part of the equation needs full attention. Experience tells me it is very easy - and feels great by the way - to continually interweave the territorial and security issues.

Remember back in the Gulf War when Yossi Sarid told the Palestinians he was taking a time-out from the peace process because of their support of Iraqi bombing in Israel? Sarid became a trusted and effective cabinet associate to Rabin. In part it was because he was not afraid to speak out when appropriate on the security concerns of all Isralis. It is also not a bad idea for the Palestinians to know that the Israeli left can be tough when vital Israeli security issues are at stake.

The Israeli left can do a better job of walking and chewing gum at the same time. Rather than talking peace one day and security the next, we must do both every day. Israeli public opinion polls over the last 18 months tell us that about two-thirds of Israelis are ready to be very generous on territorial withdrawal, if, and only if, they see the other side guaranteeing their security. Without in any way compromising our principles, we can be a more organic voice of an Israeli majority, if we are seen to place as much priority on security as on peace. There is no magic formula. It works when it comes naturally and regularly. And it's what most of us would feel better doing anyway.

Simon Rosenblum

Toronto

Ami Isseroff

The patience of those watching the stagnant peace process has been rewarded. Last night it moved, as Israel Defence Minister Yitshak Mordehai and PNA Chairman Arafat’s Deputy Abu Maazen met, talked, and agreed to have more talks. True it was only a blink, but after watching a comatose patient for so long, any movement is a gratifying surprise.

There were more and better signs. Bibi is said to have told Jordanian Foreign Minister Anani, that neither Israel, the Palestinians nor the U.S. can withdraw from the negotiations. The question, Bibi, is whether your government can withdraw from the territories.

Ami Isseroff

When it really gets bad, nobody can really believe how bad it is. "There must be people in the government, experts, who are smarter than we are, they know what they are doing." This was the sentiment prior to the debacle of the 1974 Yom Kippur war, and this how some people feel today about the Israeli economy. But the facts speak for themselves. Last year Israel had negative real growth rate: - 0.4%. This year will be worse, it seems. Unemployment figures break new records each month. Bibi inherited a going concern in the Israeli economy, and is turning it into a kiosk. Soon it will be a bankrupt kiosk.

Is it structural unemployment, a world recession, monetary policies, investment in religious enterprises, or investment in settlements? I don’t know. But the correlation between Likud economics and unemployment is almost perfect. If misery loves company, the unemployed should be happy. There are 164,200 of them according to the latest government figures, over 11% of the work force. Each month we make new "progress" in this direction.

Those who admire the fiscal responsibility of the government may be interested to know that the exiting director of Social Security, Yossi Tamir, says there is no more money to pay for unemployment: "The funds for unemployment ran out in June, and now the Secretary of the Treasury will have to find a way to pay the unemployed from the government's budget." Surely, this contingency could have been foreseen. Perhaps the widely touted "budget reductions" were a fraud, achieved by unrealistic estimates of reserves for transfer payments. Can they fool all of the people all of the time?

Ami Isseroff