Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., December 02, 2008 Kislev 5, 5769 | | Israel Time: 03:27 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate GA 2008 Travel Week's End Anglo File

Change Labor's path Tags: israel news, labor Some 60,000 eligible voters (that's all) will go to the polls today to choose the Labor Party's candidates for the next Knesset. Eighteen candidates will vie for slots on the national list that might get them into parliament, while others will try to secure slots reserved for various sectors: Arabs, districts, immigrants, Druze and neighborhoods. It is no wonder that an event that for years riveted both the political world and media has been pushed to the margins of the news. The Labor primary is taking place in the shadow of polls predicting that the party will be only the fourth or fifth largest party in the 18th Knesset. According to the polls, this faction, currently with 19 Knesset members, will be cut in half, if not worse. It will thus become either a minor coalition partner or a medium-to-small opposition party. Concerns about the Labor Party go beyond party hacks' fears for their seats in the Knesset and cabinet. In light of the right's meteoric rise, it is doubly important that there be a strong, stable political bloc that supports solving the unending conflict between Israel and its neighbors. In light of the severe economic crisis, there is a need for a party that will look out for the weaker segments of society and work to reduce the gap between rich and poor. And the new leftist grouping emerging around Meretz has still not proven itself as a political organization capable of filling the Labor Party's battered shoes. Advertisement Over the 60 years of Israel's democratic existence, parties have risen and fallen, merged and even died. One need only recall the Democratic Movement for Change (Dash), the Center Party and Shinui, whose leaders filled key positions in several governments, but which disappeared without a trace after one or two terms. Labor, however, is not one of those parties that briefly appears in Israel's political skies and disappears as quickly as it came. The party's successive incarnations - Mapai, Ma'arach (Alignment) and Labor - under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharett, Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, built the Jewish national home from bottom to top. Until the political upheaval of 1977, this party's leadership dictated Israel's foreign and defense policy and shaped its civil institutions. Immediately after Likud, headed by Menachem Begin, ousted the Alignment from power, Yitzhak Ben-Aharon, one of the labor movement's founding fathers, proposed "replacing the people" - i.e., the voters. But today, as then, "the people" do not come with a return slip. What is needed is a change of direction and the replacement of a large portion of the leadership. Today, those Labor members who seek their party's welfare and believe that it has not yet finished its role must steer clear of "deals" and cheap hacks. They must prefer candidates who do not bear responsibility for having blurred the party's direction and led it into a dead-end. They must choose candidates whose characters, activities and messages offer real change, and above all, a return to the worldview and values of the peace camp and social justice. And they must choose people who will be willing to work tirelessly for this even from the opposition benches, not only from a ministerial chair. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Boycotting Wagner The composer's works will remain a sensitive topic in Israel for many years. Bound for Gaza The Libyan ship is the most notable attempt yet to break the Gaza blockade.

Read & React Amos Harel: After Mumbai, the war against terror has changed Responses: 52 EU document on Israel, Mideast: Re-open Orient House Responses: 235 Anshel Pfeffer: Israel, stop offending India over Mumbai Responses: 62 Pope praises Nazi-era pontiff accused of Shoah inaction Responses: 57 Israeli Opera to uphold Wagner ban over Nazi link Responses: 47 More Headlines 02:57 Bodies of Mumbai terror victims arrive in Israel 03:12 Foreign Ministry: Israel won't provide security for Chabad abroad 00:15 Olmert: I'm convinced Hillary Clinton will advance Israel-U.S. relations 01:07 Parents of Mumbai terror victim: We may take Rivka's place as Chabad envoys 21:43 Olmert offers condolences to Indian PM over Mumbai deaths 23:09 Hamas tells Haaretz journalist Amira Hass to leave Gaza 21:45 Bush: My biggest regret is false intelligence on Iraq WMDs 00:56 Fetus kept in formaldehyde for 11 years found in Jerusalem 01:02 Israel turns back Libyan ship bound for Gaza with aid 14:06 Israeli Opera to uphold Wagner boycott over link to Nazis 14:36 Indian investigators: Mumbai attackers trained in Pakistan 21:45 Iran dismisses Israeli military threats as 'psychological warfare' 12:14 German firms seek to bypass Berlin sanctions on Iran 14:29 Body of Israeli Omri Kidron found 5 months after he disappeared in China 11:06 Israeli security accidentally intrudes on live Livni interview 02:32 Five Palestinians hurt in clashes with settlers in Hebron Previous Editions Select Day 01 dec 30 nov 28 nov 27 nov 26 nov 25 nov 24 nov 23 nov 21 nov 20 nov 19 nov 18 nov

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