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Final Election Results

The Bittersweet Taste of Victory - The end of the Bibi era and what it means More

For Israelis of my persuasion, the euphoria is wearing off. Though it is still a great kick to listen to the news every hour and hear about “outgoing Prime Minister Nethanyahu” and “PM Elect Ehud Barak,” it is time to understand what this victory means. The weekend papers explained that Barak’s victory was a victory for the Israeli center, true enough in a way. They also explained, at length, that Bibi Nethanyahu lost because everyone had come to hate him, but the election results showed that almost half the country voted for Bibi.

Israel has escaped from the coalition of ultraorthodox Jews and settler fanatics that brought Bibi to power. Israel has been returned to the Israelis. However, it is only on loan. It will take much hard work to reverse the processes that brought Bibi to power and ensure that we do not have another government like this last one in a few years. Under Bibi, Israeli society was taken over increasingly by alien elements and alien ideas: faqirs with amulets, religious fanatics from Brooklyn, green clothed lunatics in Izhar. Bibi himself, as noted once in PeaceWatch, was finally caught in the grip of these people and could not escape.

Bibi was supposed to be good for the Jews. Barak should be good for the Israelis, and his victory represents the return of Israel to the Israelis. But we should understand that the victory is conditional. The divisions in Israeli society, cultivated so assiduously by demagogues, will not go away overnight. A broadside circulated by settlers after the election claimed that the elections represented the victory of “anti-Zionism and anti-Judaism.” It is absurdly humorous to call the former chief-of-staff of the IDF an “anti-Zionist,” but fanatics have neither a sense of humor nor a sense of the absurd. This is the line Bibi and his extremist allies were pushing. Anyone who did not agree about the need to hold on to every rock in Judea and Samaria was branded “anti-Zionist,” a “self-hating Jew.” Already though, there are new voices coming from the settlers, counseling moderation and compromise. Perhaps this is a harbinger of things to come. Anyone who wants a constitution for Israel was branded ‘anti-Jewish.’ We are mindful also that the Shas party, running on a program of defiance of the law and the courts and general alienation from Israeli society, received 17 seats in the Knesset.

Barak’s slogan is ‘unity.’ There are signs that this slogan will be translated into a ‘national unity government,’ meaning a government that includes the major opposition Likud party. However, a national unity government will bring neither unity nor governance. We cannot both give back territories and build settlements in the same places. We cannot guarantee religious freedom and at the same time encourage the growth of religious coercion and subsidize the growth of Shas. A national unity government will only postpone the reckoning.

The sickness of Israeli society must be healed by education for democracy, tolerance and peace, by empowerment of the disenfranchised in development towns, and by resolution of the real issues of war and peace, modernization versus traditionalism, amulets versus spreadsheets. This cannot be done if the government must subsidize ultraorthodox educational and social programs. It will be difficult to educate for peace if Limor Livnat is in the government, protecting illegal right-wing radio stations and muzzling the voice of peace. It will be impossible to make peace with our neighbors if Likud hard-liners are in the government, ensuring the continuation of settlement expansion and blocking any attempt at a fair compromise. Given the election results, it is difficult to see how Barak can form a government without either Shas or the Likud. As usual there are mostly bad choices to be made.

Nonetheless, a coalition will be formed, and demands will be made on it by various factions. Whatever government is formed, we cannot count on it to automatically fulfill our program. So now is the time for us to make our demands, to make them early and often and make sure that our voice is heard.

Below are what should be, to my mind, the first priorities of the new government. Everyone is invited and encouraged to make their own list and to send it to PeaceWatch. Do not be shy about sending them to Ehud Barak as well.

Negotiations with Palestinian neighbors should begin with a freeze on settlements and land expropriations, and implementation of the remainder of the Wye accords. The government should make peace attractive for the Palestinians, by allowing and encouraging economic growth in Palestine, even if it means opening the Israeli economy to competition. In the long run, such competition will be good for Israel as well. Similarly peace with Jordan must be made real, by promoting economic growth and opening Israel’s borders to Jordanians. Barak should implement his promise to end the war in Lebanon and negotiate peace with the Syrians.

Of course, progress in peace also depends on our neighbors. Few Israelis will agree to peace if it means dismantling Israel, or if Israeli concessions are met by terror attacks and extremist rhetoric, as was the case in 1996. However, even if we fail, we must satisfy ourselves that we have made a fair effort. The lesson of Rabin’s administration is that peace cannot be imposed from above. Within Israel, we must prepare society for peace by a massive education program, and by promoting people-to-people programs.

The new government must finally give Israel a constitution that will guarantee its citizens elementary democratic rights. The rise of Shas shows that this urgent issue can be postponed no longer.

The new government must empower the disenfranchised in Israeli society and within the labor movement. The people who voted for Shas include nonreligious Jews and Arabs too. They voted for Shas because they felt they had no other representation in mainstream Israeli political life. It is important to invest money in infrastructure and jobs for development towns and in Arab, Druze and Bedouin towns as well. It is far more important to give these sectors of society representation in One Israel and in the government. Probably, it Is too much to hope that this will be the first government to include an Arab in the cabinet, but one can dream

Mazal Tov and Mabruk. Please join us at PEACE and help build a better future for the Middle East. We must make sure now that Barak does not disappoint our hopes.

Write to Ami or Ameen for details.

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PeaceWatch has been getting over 200 visitors a day owing to the Israeli elections. But peace will not be made by politicians or by elections. It will take hard work all year 'round to make peace between people. So we hope you will take the time to read about the PEACE Mid-East Dialog Group and about other dialog and peace efforts in the Middle East. We hope you will visit our home site, and  join us and come back to us after the elections - no matter how you vote or who wins. Look around this site - it is more than just polls and politics.

Shalom/Salamat

New - The PEACE Deir Yassin Memorial Web site - history of a massacre that some people try to deny - has been updated. The update includes an English translation of the original Red Cross report available for the first time, and reflections on how the issue - and the Web site have been exploited and misunderstood by both sides.

Jerusalem - Beloved and divided city - PEACE participants and guests are invited to contribute articles - your personal views of Jerusalem and how to make it a real city of peace. Click 4 More

Water and Politics - How water and politics mix poorly in the Middle East.More

Virtual Reality - As the Israeli economy declines and the 'Peace Process' heads for a bloody denouement, right wing Israeli commentators try to find a silver lining and pretend that everything is fine. A very dangerous game!

Hebrew: Arafat