Hard-ball politics

The Likud Central Committee vote on bringing forward the leadership primary
(from May to November) was a perfect example of Israeli democracy at work.
Its a hard-ball game. Netanyahu and others spoke to the convention Sunday
night, but when PM Sharon went to speak, not only was he drowned out by
right-wing opponents, but his microphone was sabotaged and he could not
deliver his speech. This was a disgusting example of Likud internal
politics, that has national and possibly international implications. The
police are investigating if a criminal act was committed.
On Monday the Likud Central Committee voted, and Sharon surprisingly won by
a majority of 104 out of nearly 3,000 votes. This was not anticipated,
because ever since PM Sharon introduced the disengagement plan from Gaza and
the northern West Bank, the right-wing in Likud has been against him,
calling it a left-wing policy. This was only proven for them when Sharon
ditched his coalition and made common cause with the Labor Party and the
hated Shimon Peres, whom he appointed Vice Prime Minister (his Deputy PM was
already Ehud Olmert).
Since the Likud primary vote will now remain in the spring, the right-wing
cannot now replace Sharon with Netanyahu as the Likud Party leader. This
avoided an early general election, with unknown consequences. But, the
challenge is not over, in the spring Netanyahu will again challenge Sharon
for leadership of Likud, and he could still win then. If he does, most
likely Sharon will quit Likud, which he helped found, and set up a new
centrist party, including his loyal Likudniks and some members from Shinui
and Labor. Sharon is still favored over Netanyahu in the country as a whole,
so he is likely, one way or another, to remain PM.
The Likud Central Committee is a group of thugs as near to organized crime
as politics can get. Netanyahu is younger and more right wing than Sharon,
and less likely to agree to another unilateral disengagement over the West
Bank, something which even many liberal Israelis fear, until and unless
Abbas cracks down on the terrorists. Many people are wary now because we
gave up the Gaza settlements at great cost, and we got (as expected)
desecration of synagogues and more rockets on Sderot. Also a Pisgat Zeev
resident, Sasson Nuriel (50), who disappeared on Sept. 21, was in fact
kidnapped by Hamas, and his body was discovered near Ramallah today.
Sharon is a great general, who has pulled off a successful withdrawal from
Gaza. But on the other hand, he is not a great politician, he does not
communicate with his troops (the electorate) and any new party will not
likely last. He may turn out to have an unstable coalition with Labor/Peres
and others.
There seems to be no happy outcome for Israel, its a mess.
The IDF continued to pummel Gaza, including targeted killings of terrorist
leaders. On Sunday they killed Sheikh Muhammad Khalil, a senior commander of
Islamic Jihad in the southern Gaza Strip, who was responsible for planning a
slew of attacks on Israelis, including the murder of Tali Hatuel, who was
pregnant, and her four young daughters on the Kissufim road in Gush Katif.
The Israel Navy yesterday launched a sea bombardment of Gaza, against which
the Palestinians have no defenses (although no casualties were reported from
this action). Hamas almost immediately declared that it will stop the
rocket firing from Gaza into Israel, and adhere to the "calming." But,
Islamic Jihad announced it will continue the rocket attacks and another
rocket hit Sderot, and in an unusual move they also criticized Hamas. The
IDF continued its counter-attacks.
Meanwhile in Gaza, Hamas gunmen attacked the home of Tawfik Abu Khoussa,
spokesman for the Palestinian Authority's Interior Ministry, but he was not
injured. They announced that they did so because he is "pro-Israel," since
he attributed the explosion that occurred last Friday at a Hamas rally that
killed 19 people to a Hamas accident and not to Israel, as they claimed. So
Gaza, where politics is even harder-ball, continues to slide further into
chaos, something that the majority of Palestinians do not want, but are
helpless to prevent, while Pres. Abbas looks on ineffectually.