Thursday, October 02, 2008

Business as usual here

While all eyes are focused on the economic crisis in the US, on the Congressional votes and the Presidential campaign, things continue as usual here in Israel. PM Olmert (yes, he is still caretaker PM until there is a new Govt.) presided over a Cabinet meeting last Sunday, and made a statement that riled a lot of people. He said that Israelis must realize that in order to have peace we will have to give up most of the West Bank and half of Jerusalem to the Palestinians and the Golan Heights to Syria. Apparently he has made this proposal to Pres. Abbas of the PA, but it was rejected out of hand, they always demand more.
But, Israelis remember that Olmert said the same thing about Gaza, and what peace did our withdrawal from there give us. It seems that since PM Sharon decided that he wanted to die "Mr. nice guy," instead of the "butcher of Beirut" he decided to give the Palestianians what they wanted, irrespective of how that affected the lives of Israelis and the State of Israel. He formed Kadima since Likud would not follow him, and then he had his stroke, and we are left with this sorry legacy. How many have suffered death and "removal" because of his senile change of direction.
At the Cabinet meeting the Atty. Gen. Meni Mazuz was present to advise the PM and Cabinet what they could and could not do as a caretaker Govt. One of the things they cannot do is take any except emergency action that would affect the future security and existence of the State. Thank goodness for that!
Another topic that Olmert discussed was the recent attempt to blow up Prof. Sternhall, a leading leftist ideologue and enemy of the Jewish "settlers." Sternhall, although an Israeli Jew, supports the Palestinians rather than the Jewish settlers, whom he characterizes as occupiers and enemies of peace. Nevertheless, the pipe bomb that blew up outside his apartment door was a rude awakening that the terrible schism within Israeli society, that was exemplified by the assassination of PM Rabin, is still very much alive. That Sternhall is an implacable enemy of the settlers and that there are hard left groups that promote hatred against settlers is well known, however, the existence of a right-wing underground group was unexpected. After Rabin's assassination the police and Mossad did a lot to destroy them. Any group in existence now is certainly a new one, and the police once again have stated that they will take steps to eradicate them.
Although I agree with Olmert as well as general Israeli opinion, that such attacks cannot be accepted within Israeli democracy, nevertheless do not underestimate the hatred that the left has for their fellow Jews who are driven by Jewish belief and Biblical prophecies. As a secular non-believer I cannot accept the hatred of both sides.
So far Tzipi Livni has not been able to form a new coalition govt. and she has another about 30 days to do so. If she cannot, then Pres. Peres will call for new elections and this will take several months. So PM Olmert will remain a caretaker until a new Govt. is in power, too bad!
Meanwhile the Presidential campaign in the US progresses towards its denouement. Today I watched speeches by McCain and Obama focussed on the economy, before both of them flew back to DC to vote for the "economic rescue package." In that respect there is not much to choose between them, but McCain's speech I thought was better, cooler and more serious, although it is clear that Obama is more of a demagogue and is likely to get more of the popular vote.

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