"Why should students be the ones to protest increasing social gaps and launch a revolution?" remarked Dr. Gadi Taub of the Communications Department at the Hebrew University School of Public Policy recently, discussing the possibility of a student struggle encompassing goals beyond the costs of higher education.

"There is no Left in Israel, and it is not clear that we should expect students to invent one."

If we can now take the death of the Israeli left as a matter of course, the least we can do now is try to determine who was behind it. Was there one assailant, or many?

	Advertisement

Perhaps the best way to launch the investigation is to narrow the search. To being with, who betrayed the Israeli left? More to the point, who has betrayed the Israeli left most?

Here, for starters, is a sample list of suspects:

Amir Peretz Vaulted over (and shoved aside) Shimon Peres to take over the Labor Party on a solemn vow to concentrate on social injustice and the needs of Israel's disadvantaged. Then turned down (turned nose up at) social welfare-oriented cabinet ministries, also refusing to fight for the treasury. When defense is dangled before him, he bites. No one thinks to ask how someone who cannot even fight for and win the finance ministry is going to be able to fight and win an all-out war.

Ariel Sharon Dangled before the left the possibility of a total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The prospect was so tempting that most leftists swallowed their reservations, giving the then-prime minister a tacit endorsement to carry out the withdrawal without negotiations with the Palestinians. The withdrawal would, on the one hand, underline that the left had failed to withdraw from any settlements in the West Bank and Gaza in nearly 40 years of trying, as well as undermining the left's bedrock belief, that withdrawal from territory would foster peace.

Shimon Peres Let us leave aside, for the moment, the destructive, self-defeating feuds with Yitzhak Rabin. Let us ignore, for the moment, the remarkable electoral record in which, time after time, facing generations of Likud candidates, Peres snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Let us concentrate on Peres' inability either to prevent the premature launch of the Lebanon war, which he is quoted as having opposed, or to push forward anything resembling a peace program within the Olmert government.

Yossi Beilin A brilliant man, unwilling or unable to see that he is an execrable politician. He may well be the last chairman of Meretz, as he may well signle-handedly drive the party into the ground. Not only has he failed to broaden the appeal of the party to immigrants and the disadvantaged, he is in danger of losing Meretz' core constituency.

Yuli Tamir One of the great hopes of Labor voters, in tandem with her ally Amir Peretz, she is in danger of becoming a historic disappointment. She has failed to take an effective role in strikes plaguing higher education and Israeli grade schools, both of which are in advanced stages of crisis, with students paying the price.

Ehud Barak Leave alone the arrogance, the belligerence, the lack of humanity, the inability to work with others. Concentrate on the disastrous handling of the withdrawal from Lebanon, which portrayed the IDF as a ragtag band of disorganized militias, encouraging Hezbollah to declare a victory. Note that Barak also treated Israel's longtime allies the South Lebanon Army with the back of his hand, giving pause to any other potential allies. He also allowed Sharon to visit the Temple Mount, not taking into account that a Palestinian uprising might be the rapid consequence. He also negotiated with the Palestinians in a manner that displayed ignorance of, or disdain for, the nuances of Mideast bargaining, in which improper etiquette guarantees failure.


The Palestinians In their every move since the beginning of the decade, they have confirmed the contentions of the Israeli right and, in doing so, gutted the Israeli left.

They could have had a state. Instead, they had an uprising. They chose to attack Israeli civilians with suicide bombs, drive-by shootings and Qassam rockets. Their choice of targets declared that there was no difference between Gush Katif and Tel Aviv. Their elected leaders chose to cling to the notion that the state of Israel could be, and should be, replaced in its entirety, and by force.

Further nominations are welcomed.