Peace seems increasingly distant because of Olmert and Israel’s political chaos
Tel Aviv (AsiaNews) - Confusion, conflict, uncertainty, abundantly characterise Israel's political scene in the wake of publication of the first, partial, report of the Government-appointed Commission of Enquiry into last summer's "Second Lebanon War," in which massive Israeli military action had only partial success, and revealed major inadequacies in both strategy and implementation.
Prime Minister Olmert and Defence Minister Peretz are facing increasing pressure to resign and it is impossible to predict the decisions of either, or what else may yet happen - or not - to change the face of the Government.
Politicians under investigation
All of this in addition to a situation, in which the (largely symbolic) Head of State is about to be indicted for serious sexual crimes, including rape, and the Prime Minister is targeted by ethics investigations, while the top echelon of the Tax Authority are being investigated for corruption; the commander-designate of the national police had to be replaced because of ethics lapses in his past; a leading member of parliament from the governing party is on trial for misuse of office; an Arab member of the Knesset (who has since resigned) is taking refuge abroad from accusations amounting to treason; the Minister of Justice is a harsh critic of the decisions of top prosecutors and of the courts; the Comptroller General and the Prime Minister are quarrelling in public; the Finance Minister is on suspension while being investigated for embezzlement; the Russian-born "Minister for Strategic Affairs" is having to answer questions about large sums of money apparently received from Russian oligarchs in strange business deals. . . .
The Labour Party, the former governing party, and still the only reasonable alternative to government by the right, is preparing to dethrone its leader, Defence Minister Peretz, (who may resign from the government even before the primaries), is deeply divided, perhaps terminally so. The largest party in government, the Prime Minister's party, Kadimah, is threatened with disintegration, and may not receive any votes in a future election.
The two candidates currently with the most chances to become Prime Minister in the future are both of them former Prime Ministers who failed catastrophically (Ehud Barak and Binyamin Netanyahu); other candidates are the inexperienced Foreign Minister Livni and the former chief of the secret police, Amy Ayalon. Right wing members of the Knesset are competing to see who could be more extreme in his threats to Israel's Arab minority. . . .
No peace movement
Yet Israelis are proving to be exceptionally adaptable, and - apart from politics - life goes on, with the economy, and the currency, performing much, much better than the political chaos might have suggested.
Still it is almost an axiom among commentators that there will shortly be another war in the north, with Hezbollah and/or with Syria, because of the unfinished business from the last war. At the same time the Government has repeatedly rejected Syria's repeated invitations to peace negotiations, and is not taking seriously the historic offer by the Arab League to establish peace between Israel and the entire Arab world, possibly the whole Muslim block of nations, even beyond the members of the Arab League. And there is no longer any large, popular peace movement in Israel to call on the Government to take those opportunities seriously. And there is no major political party to do this either. Even though opinion polls suggest that a majority of Israelis would support the peace deal on offer.
Instead, the colonising activity in the occupied West Bank is going ahead, and the colonists are as politically powerful as ever, even though they enjoy very little public support, and everybody appears to be tired of their shenanigans.
The Commission of Enquiry has passed the severest judgement on the policies and decisions of the Government, as if it were a court of law condemning the defendant, but there are very few voices expressing doubt about the underlying assumption: That a very small group of incidentally selected people, all of them retirees, almost none of whom ever reached the top in his particular field, should be viewed as the seat of wisdom, and should sit in judgement on an elected government, which - in a democracy - answers only to parliament, and, through it, to the voters. Confused? Well, isn't everybody?
Dreaming about stability
With the tectonic plates of Israeli politics still constantly shifting, it is far too early to make any wise predictions, and even far too early to tell when it will be time to make them.
Nobody benefits from this situation. Everybody could have benefited from a more stable political environment. A more stable government would have had the potential to respond more positively to the peace signals from Syria and the rest of the Arab world, to think more deeply of the central relationship - such as it is - with the Palestinians, to be more firm with the colonists in the occupied territories, and to deal with the numerous other tasks facing Israel today. No doubt, among other things, a more stable government would also be beneficial to Israel's negotiations with the Holy See, which at this stage, more than ever - require close attention and continuous hard work. According to an ANSA news agency report, the next Plenary of the Holy See - Israel Bilateral Commission is now scheduled to take place at the Vatican on 21 May. So much may yet happen by then. . . .
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