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Sure the Israeli right won? Peace lost? Look closer
By Bradley Burston
Tags: Israel News, Burston 

Click here for more articles by Bradley Burston



To judge solely from the gloating, the right conclusively won last week's election. Hawkish politicians were swift to crow triumph. Hardline analysts and legions of talkbackers have positively glowed in pronouncing the end of the left, the bankruptcy of compromise, the folly of restraint, and, most importantly for the hard right, the death of peace.
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Israel has, in their view, finally grown up.

It should, therefore, have been no problem at all for Benjamin Netanyahu to swiftly marshal a clear majority for a coalition dedicated to the proposition that the only outlook more fit to govern than the right, is the far-right.

Why, then, has the self-styled National Camp Government, not simply fallen into place?

A closer examination of the much-vaunted Gush HaYamin, or Bloc of the Right, suggests that it qualifies neither as a bloc, nor, strictly speaking, as the Right.

There is the Likud [27 seats], with its track record of having already withdrawn in the past from 89 percent of all the territory Israel captured in the 1967 war. There is Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu [15], which has made far-reaching proposals for ceding land to the Palestinians, and is the current standard-bearer for secular rights in Israel. There is the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism [5] which has shown some willingness for flexibility in negotiations toward a future peace settlement. At this point, only the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi Shas [11], the settler-dominated Jewish Home [3] and the far-right National Union [4] can be reliably counted upon to reject compromise.

The longer Netanyahu's ostensible natural partners continue to hold out demands and conditions, the more the fundamental ideological differences between the parties - and the distance between those factions and the traditional Israeli Right - become more pronounced.

Moreover, the more conflicting the demands of Gush HaYamin, the more likely Netanyahu will be forced to turn, for lack of a better alternative, to options thought impossible just a few days ago: a shared-power arrangement with Tzipi Livni's Kadima, or even, in the darkest-horse stable, some resurrection of an alliance with Ehud Barak's Labor. One possible way out for Netanyahu, saving face over a rotation agreement with Livni, is a possible offer to have her remain at the foreign minister's post, with an equal number of ministries, eight or nine, distributed to the Likud and Kadima each.

In fact, if the 2009 election has conclusively demonstrated anything, it is the overwhelming consensus across Israeli society for the rejection of the bedrock right-wing principle of a Greater Israel encompassing and annexing all of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Shockingly, the Israeli public may have voted for the right not because it rejects the idea of peace deals, partition, and a two-state solution, but because it believes the right is better qualified to find a way to carry out that undeniably painful process.

"The outcome of the elections indicates that Israelis view the 'peace process' with the Palestinians as a divorce process," writes economic analyst Elah Alkalai.

"As their unwilling embrace was arranged by global forces, so apparently will be their separation. Think of it as severance of an arranged marriage, and the vote Israelis cast last week was for what they perceive as the roughest, toughest divorce lawyer in town."

Avigdor Lieberman, the hands-down success story of the election, has repeatedly outraged the far-right by suggesting in the past that some heavily Arab-populated East Jerusalem neighborhoods and refugee camps be ceded to an eventual independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. He has consistently alientated the ultra-Orthodox - an essential building block of any right-wing dream coalition - by demanding civil-marriage and modified Jewish conversion legislation favored by Lieberman's ultra-secular constituency.

Netanyahu's Likud, the anchor of a potential rightist coalition, has been on record for years as favoring an eventual Palestinian state in the territories, as long as strict security guarantees were met. The Likud is also the only party ever to have headed a government which dismantled established settlements.

Only two parties, representing just seven seats in the 120-seat Knesset, still argue for a Greater Israel. Not even the fringe-right National Union with its frankly pro-Kahane wing, dares come out in public for a return to permanent Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, stating in its platform only that "There will be no uprooting of Jewish communities and no surrender of parts of the Land of Israel in any subsequent Israeli government led by the party."

"In other words," Alkalai concludes, "the majority vote was cast for a leadership - the right wing - that the public thinks can end the relationship with the most assets for Israelis and preferably no alimony at all for the spouse."

____________________


Previous blogs:

Will Livni, Netanyahu settle for rotation, sharing premiership?
Israel Election Guide: Can Netanyahu be stopped? Can Lieberman?
The Gaza War as reality television
Mr. Obama, grant Hamas the freedom to fail
In Gaza's shadow: Obama's inaugural message
Gaza War Diary IV - Can people die of ambivalence?
A Jew's prayer for the children of Gaza
Gaza War Diary III: If Mexico shelled Texas, like Hamas shells Israel
Gaza 2009 - To win, all Israel has to do is survive
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
The core of the conflict
The Mideast conflict is between those who want compromise, and those who don't.
Closer to insanity
Arab League chief says Israel's military policies are nearing madness.
  1.   Peace process in fantasyland 13:54  |  Natallie Durson 16/02/09
  2.   bradley - 1984 revisted 13:58  |  jake 16/02/09
  3.   ONLY "fire eaters" have credibilty that they are not selling out 14:03  |  PETER SM 16/02/09
  4.   Wishful thinking, Bradley, keep on dreaming.... 14:14  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/02/09
  5.   and the leftists voted for the right.... 14:17  |  cordier 16/02/09
  6.   Racism 14:20  |  Rishoni 16/02/09
  7.   Go on with the leadership qualities of Netanyahu and Lieberman 14:21  |  Ilan 16/02/09
  8.   Divorced from an arranged mariage. 14:24  |  sandra chitayat 16/02/09
  9.   Sure the Israeli right won 14:38  |  Yosef Leibowitz 16/02/09
  10.   Minced words 14:41  |  sh 16/02/09
  11.   Bradley, you`re off target. 15:10  |  Tzfonit 16/02/09
  12.   what kadima and labour had achieved during 3 years 16:07  |  dovdevan 16/02/09
  13.   Israelis want peace but not if it costs too much 16:09  |  Sydney 16/02/09
  14.   Tzfonit 16:36  |  Netanel 16/02/09
  15.   Bradley is divorced from an arranged reality 16:52  |  Shlomo 16/02/09
  16.   You guys are geniuses at deluding yourself. What part of no peace 17:36  |  talks, no deal on 16/02/09
  17.   The end of the peace dream 17:37  |  arik 16/02/09
  18.   Tortuous thinking #2 17:43  |  Michael N 16/02/09
  19.   BRADLEY, BRADLEY, WHERE WERE YOU ALL THIS TIME 18:01  |  indrajaya 16/02/09
  20.   BRADLEY BURSTON IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY 18:18  |  DR ERIC 16/02/09
  21.   My thesis 18:25  |  Yaakov Stern 16/02/09
  22.   The reason for the delay is that the US has spoken,,, 18:35  |  Victor 16/02/09
  23.   The most dangerous thing for a PROPAGANDIST 18:42  |  jim the mechanic 16/02/09
  24.   Bradley lives on his very own planet 19:09  |  Hen 16/02/09
  25.   Delusional: Shtuyot be mitz ha gvaniot ! 19:13  |  Alex 16/02/09
  26.   Mr. Burston 19:14  |  Steve Kerzer 16/02/09
  27.   If this is like a divorce, 19:25  |  GD 16/02/09
  28.   I don`t believe 20:06  |  Student 16/02/09
  29.   #13, Sydney 20:09  |  Bruce 16/02/09
  30.   Peace lost? 20:42  |  Brod 16/02/09
  31.   The ultimate prince of wishful thinking 20:42  |  Colin Wright 16/02/09
  32.   Israel Won Elections (center) 22:24  |  Baruch Gold 16/02/09
  33.   More delusional thinking from the folks 02:19  |  Mark Lincoln 17/02/09
  34.   nATALIE its not your own state you people want is it? 02:58  |  PETER SM 17/02/09
  35.   Israeli democracy 03:01  |  KaiserD2 17/02/09
  36.   To Swiss (Dino # 4). You`re right and you`re wrong. 03:20  |  flyingdoc57 17/02/09
  37.   Bradley - right on the money!! 12:09  |  dr Eric 17/02/09
  38.   JUST KEEP ALL THE LAND 12:30  |  Petra 17/02/09
  39.   #22 Victor it may interest you to know that 12:34  |  Petra 17/02/09
  40.   Note to all Americans 12:37  |  petra 17/02/09
  41.   The only way to peace 12:41  |  Nellie 17/02/09
  42.   # 36, NELLIE 13:14  |  indrajaya 17/02/09
  43.   Peace process 14:46  |  Mitch Katz 17/02/09
  44.   burston`s other cheek 16:54  |  eyal 17/02/09
  45.   Govern without the fringe 00:03  |  Rocky 18/02/09
  46.   IF YU CEDE MORE LAND, YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU GET. 00:18  |  Petra 18/02/09
  47.   Well, maybe it will be like 1977 00:32  |  newageblues 18/02/09
  48.   What peace? 01:19  |  Michael 18/02/09
  49.   What Israel needs now 02:42  |  Mark Lincoln 18/02/09
  50.   The choice P2 03:08  |  TonyL 18/02/09
  51.   Only History & facts on the ground can dictate the solution. 04:12  |  Akram Zekaria 18/02/09
  52.   to flyingdoc57 #36 (2nd try) 07:34  |  zeev 18/02/09
  53.   I Can`t Speak For Anybody Else But 09:56  |  Eli Wapniarski 18/02/09
  54.   Yes, hopefully the peace 23:34  |  Yaakov K. 21/02/09
  55.   #54 Don`t Be a Defeated Jew 07:59  |  Eli Wapniarski 22/02/09
  56.   to Eli Wapniarski #53 - 4th try 10:11  |  zeev 23/02/09
  57.   Who will create the Palestinian state? 12:29  |  Aryeh 24/02/09
  58.   piece by piece process 02:17  |  Martin 25/02/09
  59.   to Aryeh #57 - 2nd try 09:35  |  zeev 25/02/09
  60.   A wise historian once said... 17:15  |  Ariks 26/02/09
  61.   Hobson`s Choice 14:26  |  chelemer 28/02/09
  62.   to chelemer #61 17:08  |  zeev 28/02/09
  63.   "Only Nixon Could Go to China..." 20:34  |  Peter 28/02/09
  64.   to Michael #48 - 10th try 11:10  |  zeev 03/03/09
  65.   Death of the Israeli Right Wing 14:40  |  Alan Abbey 31/03/09
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