Everyone wins
The news today in Israel is the result of the Labor Party Central Committee meeting held in Tel Aviv last night. The Committee voted to support the leader of the Party Amir Peretz by a 2:1 margin to stay in the coalition Government of Ehud Olmert with the addition of Avigdor Lieberman and his Israel Beiteinu Party. This was a strong endorsement of Peretz, who fended off the opposition of some Party rebels, led by Ofir Pines-Paz, who is a Minister, and who now will probably resign to become a major rivel to Peretz.
At first glance it might be surprising that Labor would agree to be in a coalition with Lieberman, who is considered to be very right wing, and has advocated changing the borders of Israel so as to exclude majority Arab populations as well as "transferring" some of them. He argues that most of the Arabs are not loyal to Israel, and that their demographic expansion endangers the Jewish nature of the State, and that if Israel can remove Jewish Israelis from their homes for security and national reasons, as was done in the Gaza disengagement,they can also do this to Israeli Arabs.
Whatever one might consider the merits of this argument, the fact is that Lieberman is right wing and that the Labor Party voted to go along with him in the same Government. This is another victory of pragmatiism over principles. They in effect voted to remain in power rather than uphold their traditional policies. Peretz said that he intends to fight Lieberman from within the Government rather than from without, a convenient rationalization.
Since Peretz is Defence Minister and Lieberman has been appointed "Minister in charge of security threats," it is clear that there will be clashes between them. However, today the Cabinet votes on the entry of Lieberman and Israel Beiteinu, and it is now a sure thing. So Lieberman wins because he will be added to the coalition, Peretz wins, because he got what he wants, to remain Defense Miister, and Olmert wins because he strengthes his Coalition with not only the19 seats of Labor but also the 11 of Israel Beiteinu, giving him a majority of 75.
Even Netanyahu wins in a way, because he is now the clear Head of the opposition without any challenge from other right wing parties. So although this move strengthens Lieberman, certainly in the eyes of his mainly Russian supporters, in a way it weakens his right wing credentials, because he has now compromised himself to be in with Olmert and Peretz.
No doubt Netanyahu will make use of this when the next elections come around, because he needs to fend off Lieberman's threat from the right. Polls show that there has been a strong move to the right in Israeli opinion since the recent war in Lebanon and the situation in the PA. However, while it looks as if the Olmert Coalition is strengthened for now, many Labor members voted for Peretz with strong reservations, and this may come back to haunt him in the not too distant future.
At first glance it might be surprising that Labor would agree to be in a coalition with Lieberman, who is considered to be very right wing, and has advocated changing the borders of Israel so as to exclude majority Arab populations as well as "transferring" some of them. He argues that most of the Arabs are not loyal to Israel, and that their demographic expansion endangers the Jewish nature of the State, and that if Israel can remove Jewish Israelis from their homes for security and national reasons, as was done in the Gaza disengagement,they can also do this to Israeli Arabs.
Whatever one might consider the merits of this argument, the fact is that Lieberman is right wing and that the Labor Party voted to go along with him in the same Government. This is another victory of pragmatiism over principles. They in effect voted to remain in power rather than uphold their traditional policies. Peretz said that he intends to fight Lieberman from within the Government rather than from without, a convenient rationalization.
Since Peretz is Defence Minister and Lieberman has been appointed "Minister in charge of security threats," it is clear that there will be clashes between them. However, today the Cabinet votes on the entry of Lieberman and Israel Beiteinu, and it is now a sure thing. So Lieberman wins because he will be added to the coalition, Peretz wins, because he got what he wants, to remain Defense Miister, and Olmert wins because he strengthes his Coalition with not only the19 seats of Labor but also the 11 of Israel Beiteinu, giving him a majority of 75.
Even Netanyahu wins in a way, because he is now the clear Head of the opposition without any challenge from other right wing parties. So although this move strengthens Lieberman, certainly in the eyes of his mainly Russian supporters, in a way it weakens his right wing credentials, because he has now compromised himself to be in with Olmert and Peretz.
No doubt Netanyahu will make use of this when the next elections come around, because he needs to fend off Lieberman's threat from the right. Polls show that there has been a strong move to the right in Israeli opinion since the recent war in Lebanon and the situation in the PA. However, while it looks as if the Olmert Coalition is strengthened for now, many Labor members voted for Peretz with strong reservations, and this may come back to haunt him in the not too distant future.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:44 PM
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