Uri Avnery, 24.12.05
SOMETHING BAD is happening to the election campaign of Amir
Peretz. It is just shuffling around.
The surge that started with
his election as leader of Labor has petered out. Events in
the country are chasing each other: the "big bang" of the new Kadima
party, the acts of prostitution of Shimon Peres and Shaul Mofaz, Ariel Sharon's
minor stroke, the Likud primaries, the Qassam rocket hitting Ashkelon. Peretz
has been pushed to the margins.
Of course, the real election campaign has not yet
started. In 1999, it was said about Barak, at this stage, "Ehud is not
taking off!" and still he soared to victory. Nevertheless, the situation
does give cause for concern.
These days, no exciting initiatives are coming out
of the Peretz camp. On TV and the radio, the same tired old Labor politicians
are churning out the same tired old Labor messages. At the moment, the polls
give Peretz 22 seats, compared to 39 for Sharon and 12 for Netanyahu.
There is not much time left. Peretz must make bold
strategic decisions. Now. At once. This is a test of leadership. A fateful
test, because a defeat would not only spell disaster for the Labor Party, but
for the peace camp at large and, indeed, for Israel.
IN THIS
battle, as we have said before, the advantage lies with the side that
determines where the battle will be fought. It is in the interest of Peretz
that the campaign be about social and economic issues, while both Sharon and
Netanyahu want to fight it out in the national security arena. The polls show
that the majority believes that Peretz is the best candidate to solve the
social problems, but a large majority sees in Sharon the only one able to
provide security.
The experts surrounding Peretz tell him: speak only
about social matters. Don't speak at all about war and peace, and, if you can't
avoid it, be vague. You must garner votes from the center, and the people there
don't believe in peace.
Sounds logical. But it's bad advice, nevertheless.
FIRST OF ALL, the
question arises whether Peretz is in a position to put the social problem at
the center of the campaign and impose it on his opponents. That is almost
impossible.
In Israel, the Prime Minister and the Minister of
Defense , with the help of the army commanders, can create tension at any time
and at any place. It works like this: the army kills a Palestinian militant in
a "targeted elimination" and declares that he was a ticking bomb who
was planning a suicide attack. His comrades respond with a salvo of Qassam
rockets and mortar shells, in the cause of revenge. The army reacts to this
"criminal terrorist outbreak" with more assassinations, as well as
artillery fire and attacks from the air. And voila, we have our "security
tension".
There are several variations on this theme.
Hizballah is always ready to do its bit and "warm up" the northern
border, if the Israeli army provides even the slightest provocation. And if
nothing happens on the ground, there is always an army intelligence officer
ready to sound the alarm: Iran will any minute now have an atom bomb and
transport us straight to Alaska.
Sharon and Mofaz have no moral or practical problem
with creating bloody headlines. As a matter of fact, one of Peretz's advisors
said so on TV, but was immediately silenced by his colleagues. How can you
slander the army in this way? In an election campaign, that will backfire on
us! And, as usual, when the national flag goes up the pole, we must all stand
at attention and salute. (It was Vladimir Jabotinsky, the spiritual father of
the Likud, of all people, who once said: "I shall not stand at attention
while somebody sings the national anthem and empties my pockets!")
If the impression gets around that Peretz has no convincing
solution to our existential problems, or - even worse - that he has a solution
but is afraid to voice it, his credibility as a candidate for Prime Minister
will be zero.
There is no choice. He must speak up. And there is
nothing to be afraid of.
LET'S TAKE the
Jerusalem question.
For decades now all Israeli governments have been
repeating the mantra: "United Jerusalem, capital of Israel for all
eternity." Netanyahu has a bad habit of accusing all his opponents - from
Shimon Peres in 1996 to Sylvan Shalom a week ago - of a sinister design to
"divide Jerusalem".
Two weeks ago, Amir Peretz gave in to his advisors
and repeated the sacred mantra: he, too, is for the United Jerusalem, Capital
of Israel for all Eternity. Amen.
This is a mendacious statement. Every child knows
that there will be no peace without East Jerusalem becoming the capital of the
Palestinian state. Peretz knows this better than most. Worse, it is a
politically stupid statement.
That became clear on the morrow, when Israel's largest
mass-circulation daily, Yediot Ahronoth, published a poll that shocked the
politicians: 49% of the Israeli public is ready to accept the division of
Jerusalem, with another 49% opposed. Since an ordinary person is reluctant to
give an answer that runs counter to the perceived consensus, it appears that a
majority is now ready for the partition of the city.
I, for one, was not surprised at all. Eight years
ago, after Gush Shalom had published a revolutionary manifesto that coined the
phrase "United Jerusalem, Capital of the Two States", I talked about
it with a taxi driver. Most of our taxi drivers are super-patriots, so I was
not surprised when he cried out: "No! Never!" But his explanation did
surprise me: "I don't want a united Jerusalem! I want the Arabs to get out
of my sight! Let them take their neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the devil or to
a Palestinian state, I don't give a damn!"
At that time, already, we broke the taboo
surrounding Jerusalem. Within a few weeks, 800 artists, writers, poets and
academics signed the manifesto, and thousands of citizens from all walks of
life added their signatures. In 2000, when it was (mistakenly) assumed that
Ehud Barak at Camp David was about to "give up" East Jerusalem, there
was no outcry in the country. Bill Clinton's Jerusalem formula of January 2001
- "What is Arab should be Palestinian, what is Jewish should be
Israeli" - is accepted by many. It
is also included in the Geneva Initiative. If Peretz had openly and loudly
supported this, he would have gained points.
That is true for the other peace issues, too.
Vagueness is good for Sharon, it is bad for Peretz. His strength lies in the
fact that his social-economic message is well integrated with his
national-security message. They are the two sides of the same coin. That is a
refreshing and new message for most of the public. A message that is accurate,
moral and also good election tactics.
A PERSONAL note:
Lest I be suspected of voicing an opinion as one of the inexperienced
commentators who have never borne actual responsibility, I would like to point
out that I have myself directed five election campaigns for the Knesset and
succeeded in four of them. True, it was always for small parties, devoid of
money and an apparatus, but as far as the problems and pressures are concerned,
the difference is not so big.
One feels that the public is fed up with deceitful
campaigns. Voters are becoming more and more suspicious. This time, more than
ever, they expect straight talking. And, indeed, after all the upheavals of the
last few weeks, the picture that emerges presents the voter with a clear choice
between three different options:
- On the right, the Likud, under the leadership of
Netanyahu, has clearly shifted to the radical fringe. Netanyahu will now try to
don a "moderate" mask, but to no avail. Not only does the party
include openly fascist groups, but it is apparent that the entire Likud opposes
"giving up" any part of Eretz Yisrael, thus striking peace from the
agenda.
- In the middle, the new Kadima party, under the
leadership of Sharon, has given up the idea of a Greater Israel in the whole of
the historical country, but opposes a real compromise with the Palestinians,
arrived at by negotiation and agreement. Sharon wants to impose by force new
permanent borders for Israel, by annexing most of the West Bank and all of East
Jerusalem.
- On the left, Labor, under the leadership of
Peretz, proposes negotiations with the Palestinians with the aim of achieving
peace by compromise.
Peretz will have no chance, if the impression
arises that there is no real difference between him and Sharon. He must
convince the Labor Party refugees who are attracted by Sharon, that there is a
profound difference between his program (negotiations and agreement) and that
of Sharon (unilateral diktat). Sharon is interested in downplaying this
difference, and by the same logic, Peretz must be interested in emphasizing it.
People in love with ambiguity will vote for Sharon.
But a large part of the public, especially in the center, is longing for bold
leadership with a clear message. Here - and only here! - lies Peretz's big
chance.
As Rabbi Nachman of Braslav said many years ago: "All the world is a narrow bridge, and the main thing is to have no fear at all!"