Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party yesterday released the main points of its national agenda - preserving a Jewish majority in exchange for territorial concessions, keeping Jerusalem and large settlement blocs, and establishing a demilitarized Palestinian state devoid of terror.
This has been the formula of Oslo all along, although, one can’t call it Oslo, because Oslo is now a dirty word in Isreal. New Labour leader Amir Peretz, still uses it, and now he has been termed an extremist leftist socialist by the Israeli Press. Even Shimon Peres had to leave labour.
There has been much musical chairs, with politicians abandoning their respective loyalties to their parties, and switching to the party that they think will get the most votes. Shas Chairman MK Eli Yishai said in response to the all the moves,
"Another day of political showtunes has passed. I wonder when some parties will turn to the Yellow Pages to attract new members. It appears as if some of the parties will have to attach a photograph of their candidates to their ballots so that the Israeli people will remember who found political refuge where. I'm sure that if Begin and Ben Gurion were with us even they would be confused as to who their parties were."
I agree. Likud, Shinui, Labour and Kadima are now all arguing the same thing. A two state solution, United Jerusalem, and no right of return for the Palestinians. They vary as to which groups they target as the scapegoats for all the ills of modern Israel(Varying from Haredim, the Unemployed, The Rich to the Arabs), so I guess it’s only their prejudices that separate them. How simple it would be if Israel had a two party system like Australia. All these new political parties in Israel’s hyper-democratic system seem like they will only lead to yet another PM who will not finish his term because maintaining a coalition In Isreal will be harder than scratching an Israeli diamond (which are apparently harder than bullets)
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Apparently saying nothing or being incredibly vague about your key policies will do wonders for your political fortunes in Isreal. This extract is from: http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000410.htm
"When Sharon goes riding on a tiger, the results are not favorable to the tiger. It seems he has come back from the ride with the Likud inside and the smile on the face of Sharon. If he did it by luck, then some people have a talent for being lucky, and Sharon is one of them. Opinion surveys show Sharon's new Kadima party getting as many as 34 mandates, while Labor will get 20-28 according to the polls.
Sharon has made no mistakes. Having antagonized everyone remaining in the Likud, he has managed to ingratiate himself overnight with virtually everyone left of the Likud except Peres. The Kadima party platform says as little as possible about policy toward the Palestinians. According to Ha'aretz:
The platform emphasizes the existence of the State of Israel and its role as the Jewish national home and the need to guarantee and Jewish population majority.
This side of the Jordan river, the existence of the state of Israel is not exactly a controversial proposition. The platform calls for a demilitarized Palestinian state, without specifying the territories that might be occupied by that state. Earlier, it was leaked that Sharon would offer the Palestinians "Security for Peace" instead of "Land for Peace." This is unrealistic of course, but Sharon is not negotiating with Palestinians now. He is wooing the Israeli electorate. Naturally, many Israelis would prefer to believe that we can get peace without giving up land. Something for nothing is always welcome."
I definitely think a two-party(Labor/Likud) system would benefit Israel greatly.
The projection of Kadima winning the upcoming elections scares me quite a bit. It just means more disengagements are to follow.
Who'd u vote for if u were living here?
eitan.
I would probably vote for meimad, as they seem to be most aligned with my vision of a Judaism that is modern and about worshipping god and keeping mitzvot rather than worshipping the land.
As meimad have been swallowed up by labour, I would necceserily have to vote for avoda.
who are you leaning towards eitan?
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