Haaretz poll: 57% of Israelis support plan to talk to Hamas
Labor crashing as right continues to gain support; survey finds some seven Knesset seats shifted to right.
By Yossi Verter Tags: Israel Labor Party Israel newsIn a few words, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was able to encapsulate the political situation in Israel: "There is no more peace camp." New survey numbers appear to prove him right.
Nine months after the elections, the left has evaporated and the right has only grown stronger, probably stronger than ever. The Labor Party and its leadership continue to sink lower and lower, but the general public is actually exhibiting intellectual flexibility and political moderation: the majority, including most of the Likud voters, support negotiations with Hamas, if it relinquishes terrorism and recognizes Israel.
These are the main conclusion for a special survey carried out during the past days on behalf of Haaretz and Dialog, under the guidance of Professor Camil Fuchs of the Department of Statistics at Tel Aviv University.
The survey shows the impressive rising strength of the right and a serious shrinking of the center and the left. The balance in the current Knesset stands at 65 seats for the right and 55 for the center and the left parties, but if elections were held today , the current survey suggests that the right would garner 72 seats to 48 for the center and left.
During the nine months since the elections, the equivalent of seven seats in the Knesset have moved to the right from the left-center. Kadima is retaining its strength, but Labor is crashing and it is on its way to disappearing from the political scene.
The flow of power is as follows: Labor is losing seats to Kadima, which is losing seats to Likud, which is sending seats further to the right. But Likud is also increasing its strength by some 20 percent, which counts for six seats in parliament, and it has held on to those numbers, since the election.
We may be in the midst of a slow-burn "big bang." On the eve of elections in 2006, after Ariel Sharon left Likud and set up Kadima, the right in the Knesset constituted 50 MKs and the center-left 70 MKs. Now, less than four days later, upheaval.
The attitude of Israelis to Hamas, a terrorist organization that still holds Gilad Shalit, is quite pragmatic. It turns out that the majority of the public - 57% - supports the view of MK Shaul Mofaz of Kadima, who published a plan earlier this week, in which he called for dialogue with Hamas under certain conditions. Inside Kadima the idea has tremendous support by some 72 percent of the party's voters.
But even 53 percent of Likud supporters back the idea. The left is breaking apart and Likud is moving to the center. It seems that Mofaz knew that he was marching on solid political ground when he included this radical article in his plan.
The Haaretz survey was carried out toward the end of Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week. The lessons the Prime Minister experienced at the hands of the White House left no scars in the hearts of the average Israeli. The vast majority of those asked said that the White House's attitude toward Netanyahu was "reasonable." Just a quarter of those asked claimed that the attitude of the White House toward Netanyahu was humiliating.
There are two possible ways of interpreting this: either that the emotional way with which the politicians and the media received the fact that Netanyahu went to the White House late in the evening in a van does not affect the general public, or that the public believes that Netanyahu deserves what he got.
The former is probably correct: The emotional discussion over the circumstances of the meeting between Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama stayed in the political-media world's court and the street did not form it's opinions apart from that.
In general, the results of the survey are favorable to Netanyahu. A great majority blames Mahmoud Abbas for the impasse in the peace process with the Palestinians. The overall level of satisfaction from Netanyahu continues to be positive, as it was five months ago, after 100 days in government.
Also with regards to his suitability to the post of prime minister, he leads Tzipi Livni, who is second, by a significant margin: 43 percent for Netanyahu and 27 percent for Livni.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman continues to be seen negatively; also unpopular is Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.
The average Israeli is angry and dissatisfied with Labor and its leader, Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Not long ago, Barak was the most popular minister in the government by a substantial margin. Netanyahu has now surpassed him.
Since the last survey, held in mid-June, Barak lost 20 points in popular support. In June, 29 percent were dissatisfied with Barak's conduct and now that has deteriorated to 44 percent.
What happened? While Israel's security situation has not worsened, the affair of the expensive hotel suite in Paris struck a mortal blow to his image, to the point where the public does not differentiate any longer between his persona and function.
Very few believe Barak is suitable to be prime minister (5 percent) compared to 10 percent who think Lieberman can do the job.
Labor continues to crash, and has never before experienced such a nadir in surveys. In June the Haaretz survey had showed it could pull 10 seats.
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Polls ! What kind of polls ? Who made the polls ? Where was it made ? When was it made ? These are some of the questions. My poll says 75 % were against talking to Hamas. All Polls can Lie ! Was that poll made during the day or night ?
Peres is in his eighties and in good health. May it continue. Ehud Barak, I believe, will be 70 in 2011. Perhaps it is time to give other luminaries in the Labor Party,a chance. Such as Isaac Herzog, Paz-Pines, or Daniel ben-Simon. Time will tell. Barak is indeed a miliary hero, but is it really "apres moi, le deluge?"
Now if Ms Livni would just step aside for Mr Mofaz, we all might get some where.
During almost 60 yeras Israel have always " hit with the sledge" causing the death and destruction when it have been "troubled". Do we have the peace or are we somehow nearer to the peace? More very extreme terrorists, more much more serious threats (Iran) and also much more people around the world who cannot understand the Israeli attitude and military actions (f.e all the boycotts).
Hamas people are no plo, they are genuine freedom fighters and they can deliver. Israel and us backersd have wanted easy solutions and promoted Arafat as partener. Israel's insistance to prolong the negotiation indefinitly had led to rise of radicalism and unnecessary wars. Sheikh Yasin was assinated any many of Hamas founders was liquidated by Israel and its Palestinian agents from the PLO. Gaza war was meant to break the back of the Palestinian resistance. Arabs and other world powers helped but the result was a total fiasco and a solid war crime case against Israel. Lasting peace in Palestine means one thing: justice to the innoncent Palestinian people made refugies outside or prisoners inside.
"The right has only grown stronger, probably stronger than ever". While right wing parties may have gained support, their platforms and policies have take a sharp turn to the left. Who would have imagined,even a year ago, that the Likud would be in favor of creating a Palestinean State?
... is that actually the Right prevails on the strength of its own negative vilifying propaganda... ... blatant fear-mongering in relation to the Pals... also 'anti-semitizing' any frank appraisal of our actions, eg. the Goldstone report... ... the Right not only gives Israel a repellent aura on the international scene, but also leads to brotherly abhorence...
We just do not believe that appeasing, surrendering, and making nonsense deals with terrorist leaders will ever lead to peace. This is what separates us from the left who with OSLO are so discredited that they will never recover.
The article did already enough to blame Barak, particularly on the personal level. And that is indeed true and damning. There was no need for you to contribute more. The way I see it, the Labor was destroyed by the Histadrut (a union that cares only for itself), and Peretz plus a few other nobodies. The respected old guard did not foster any worthy successors. Barak was and still is the only real personality there. Besides his military prowess, he is also the ONLY very important barrier countering Likud's shenanigans against Israel's legal system, I don't want to explain why... Time and again, Likud's maneuvers were stopped by Barak. Right now, as Likud intends to destroy the office of the Attorney General, he again, defends the legal system. That alone is more important than anything! Otherwise, I am also flabbergasted at his pettiness... not to speak that with his telescope in his apartment he can look right into my bedroom, that's how close I am to him...
Which Labor and the rest lefties clearly are. The stance should be that we are willing to talk, but without compromising a single position before the talks, give nothing away for free. Arabs don't understand goodwill, it's not part of their culture.
Mark, the Labor Party is just being the Labor Party. It reminds me of the "Farmer's Bank" in Thailand, ain't no tractors parked outside. Or Bank Hapoalim (Workers Bank) in Israel, lots of suits walking through those doors. Labor ran this nation for over thirty years. It had a tendency like any socialist gov't to take care of their own. They made the lives of small business hell, fondled their selected unions and made sure their selected rich had first kick at the can. They are no different today, they take care of the Electric Co. union as well as Mekorot, the water company. As for being more peaceful than the so-called Right, it was they who fought the wars of '48, '56 and '73. This is not a situation where one side wants war and the other side does not. The Left blames Israel for all the conflicts, and the Right is aware of the dangerous thoughts and philosophies held by our Arab and Persian neighbors. Barak has wandered far from the refet.
But those terrorists will not talk to us, so this whole idea is bull----. Such a waste of time this is.....
When has Barak not failed to promote or defend the interests of the Labor Party? When has he not sold out those interests for his own personal gain in the last decade? When has Labor EVER defended the interests of it's followers during that decade? What IS a political party if it does not exist to promote the common interest? What becomes of a political party which becomes the private whore of a man without any concern for the general welfare? Disease and death.