Ayalon: Left must not gain power

[Gimel]

Former Shin Bet security service director Ami
Ayalon, co-sponsor of a non-governmental
Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative and a
prominent if independent figure in the Israeli
peace movement, caused a political stir Wednesday
by stating in a newspaper interview, "the left
must not take power."

"The left will not succeed in passing an agreement
with the Palestinians," he said in remarks published
in Ma'ariv daily. "Only the Likud is capable of removing
settlements."
<snip>
"The division in the state of Israel today is
not between the left and the right, but between
people who want Israel to be Jewish and
democratic - and this can be only in a
situation of two states for two peoples - and
others, a minority, who want a one-state
arrangement, in which the state of Israel will
either not be a democracy, or not be a home for
the Jewish people."

He said the majority of Israelis had effectively
accepted the principles of the peace outline as
proposed by Ayalon and Nusseibeh. But he said
the implementation of such a plan would be
"very, very painful," and that the real
question facing Israelis was how to carry it
forward.

<sniip>
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/360003.html

A well known fact. The left won't succeed, and the right may not either. It will take both, that is all Israelis working together to form a peace agreement.

[The Magistrate]

1. An Interesting Point, Ma'am

Without more knowledge of Mr. Ayalon's position on the left v. right spectrum within Israeli politics, it is hard to comment on the worth of his observation here. It is a reasonable supposition overall that chiefs of security services tend toward the right, but the supposition is not fool-proof. If he is considered a centerist or even somewhat left, this would be one thing, if he is a rightist, it could well be too self-interested to pass as useful analysis.

It does seem to me that what we call over here the "only Nixon could have opened Red China" argument can be overplayed. People are not elected to office in order to do the opposite of what they have always said they intended, after all, though on occassion they may be forced to that, ot find it in their best interests, once in office. It seems abundantly clear that Sharon and Likud have no intention of removing the settlements, though they might have less trouble doing so than Labor would encounter. A left government would seem more likely to make the attempt, under current conditions, though such an attempt by a left government might well produce something on the order of a low=grade civil war, featuring murderous attacks by "ultras" of the settler movement against Israeli citizens they felt traitors to the cause of "Greater Israel". This would likely lead to the quick extinguishment of that movement, it could be hoped.

[bluesoul]

2. If the left

could not achieve that because of fear of a civil war or "ultras" and only the right would be allowed then there is something horribly wrong with the political culture in Israel, which I don't believe it to be so. The left, with a prominent figure (as the article suggested that I posted from Avnery that no one commented haha) could do it just well IMHO

[Gimel]

3. The ultra-right

No doubt they will stage a rather violent objection to whomever tries to remove them. They might expect it more from the left than from the right. However, the political split does have to be delt with. A strong figure on the left might, someone with the stature of Rabin, for instance, but I'm afraid that Shimon Peres is not going to be able to deal with it, as he is over 80 years old. There is no one else, it seems on the left to carry it off.

What is more important, is the point that the political leaning is less important than the ability to gather the majority of the will of the people.

[The Magistrate]

4. That Is Certainly True, Ma'am

If the great preponderance of the people are united behind the policy, just about any leader, of any stripe, will be able to execute it.

As some fellow once said in a time of French turmoil: "Where are the people? I must hurry there to lead them!"