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THE "A" WORD
"We have to decide soon what kind of democracy
we want here. The present model integrates apartheid
and is not commensurate with Judaism."
MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 12/05:
Finally the "A" word is being used not just by isolated academics and a few
courageous journalists. The American media, CNN, Lehrer News Hour -- the list
goes on and on when dealing with the major corporate media that try to dominate
the journalistic agenda -- have all refused for years now to let experts discuss
the realities of the "Peace Process" on prime time. Or even after hours for
that matter!
But now the "A" is seeping out. Now the "Apartheid" realities of what has
been called "The Middle East Peace Process", the structure the Americans and
Israelis desperately tried to legitimize at Camp David, are entering the discussion
of what has really been going on between Israel and the Palestinians.
The newest discussant: non other than the former head of Israel's Shinbet
Ami Ayalon.
PALESTINIANS NOW BELIEVE THEY GAIN THROUGH VIOLENCE
By Ora Coren Ha'aretz Correspondent
[Ha'aretz 5 December 2000] - Israel's policy has led the Palestinians to
believe that they can gain a state through violence, former Shin Bet chief
Ami Ayalon said yesterday at an annual meeting of the Finance Ministry's
budget division.
Ayalon stated that the Palestinians' decision to take the Oslo path in 1993
was based on the assumption that a Palestinian state could be achieved only
through negotiations, and not through violence.
"Now some Palestinians think that there is another alternative, and that
what we are offering is not honorable," said Ayalon. "As they see it, we
gave only when a gun was at our heads - that we halted the process, and
returned to it only under threat of violence." He cited the 1996 Western
Wall tunnel riots, after which "we ran to Washington and gave them Hebron,"
as well as the achievements of the Hezbollah in getting terrorists released.
"The Oslo agreement created an ambiguous situation," said Ayalon, adding
that the IDF had hoped the political echelons would present a diplomatic
worldview that would determine daily reality. However, "we did not get it,"
he said. As a result, said Ayalon, reality was determined by the army's
actions in the field.
Ayalon likened Israel's relationship with the Palestinian Authority to
Siamese twins that share common vital systems. He maintained that the debate
on separation with the Palestinians should be part of a debate on the
identity and essence of Israeli and Jewish democracy. "Is the option of a
Jewish democracy with apartheid acceptable? In my view, it is not," he
added.
ISRAEL HAWK CONSIDERS RUN AT A WOUNDED DOVE
Rematch looms between Netanyahu and the man
who ousted him on a platform of peace
By Tracy Wilkinson
Los Angeles Times - 5 December: JERUSALEM -- To the ecstatic chants of
"Bibi! Bibi!" Benjamin Netanyahu came home to Israel on Monday, steeled to
do battle for the prime ministerial office he was forced to abandon
scarcely a year and a half ago.
His arrival timed to coincide with local top-of-the-hour news
broadcasts, Netanyahu said he will decide within a few days whether to
challenge beleaguered Prime Minister Ehud Barak in early elections that many
here expect to be held in the spring.
"The country has hit rock bottom," Netanyahu told a battery of
journalists and well-wishers at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel
Aviv. "This must change."
The possibility of Netanyahu's return to politics has sparked feverish
speculation here as Israelis face the deadliest fighting with Palestinians
in years. With the peace process in ruins and no end in sight to the
conflict, the country is desperately in search of new leadership.
Netanyahu hopes to step into that void, betting on opinion polls that
show he could easily defeat Barak.
The violence that serves as a backdrop to the political turmoil
escalated further early Monday: The Israeli army said Palestinian gunmen,
attacking from three sides, attempted to storm Rachel's Tomb, a Jewish
shrine on the edge of the biblical city of Bethlehem. In retaliation, Israel
launched two missile attacks from combat helicopters, targeting gunmen the
army said were hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp. No one was killed, but
more than 20 Palestinians were reported injured in the battle that raged for
hours.
Palestinians said the Rachel's Tomb assault followed an attack Sunday
by Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers on Muslim worshipers in the West
Bank village of Hussan, south of Bethlehem. The army denied the account.
Authorities in Bethlehem, traditionally considered the site of Jesus' birth,
have already canceled major Christmas celebrations because of the unrest
that has claimed nearly 300 lives and helped cripple the Barak government.
Late Monday, the Palestinian village of Beit Jala, also on the
outskirts of Bethlehem, was pounded by Israeli machine guns after the nearby
Jewish neighborhood of Gilo--part of Jerusalem to Israelis, an illegal
settlement to Palestinians--came under fire from the direction of Beit Jala.
While there is little doubt among Israelis that Netanyahu will run in
early elections, he already faces obstacles. Foremost among those is Ariel
Sharon, the hawk who has led the right-wing Likud Party since Netanyahu's
landslide loss to Barak. To unseat Sharon as Likud's candidate for prime
minister, Netanyahu would have to win a party primary in advance of the
vote.
There are signs that elections may not be held at all. Some of the same
legislators who overwhelmingly voted for early balloting less than a week
ago are getting cold feet, fearful of eroding their own power and position.
Netanyahu dismissed as "tricks" the moves to put off the elections,
saying he is confident Israelis will go to the polls sooner rather than
later. He said his supporters are clamoring for him to return to the fray;
he reportedly has been attempting to convince foes that he has softened his
combative style.
A statement from Barak's One Israel/Labor Party called on Netanyahu to
stop casting himself "as the national savior." The party said that once
campaigns are underway, the Israeli public won't forget the international
isolation that Netanyahu's hard-line positions brought Israel.
Netanyahu was so decisively defeated by Barak in May 1999 that he
conceded within minutes of the polls closing. Barak assumed office on a wave
of optimism and promises to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Today, their
roles seem almost reversed.
"It's becoming more and more clear that Netanyahu's policies [of
standing tough against Palestinian demands] were right," said Yuval
Steinitz, a Likud member of the Knesset, or parliament, who supports
Netanyahu. He noted that Netanyahu's last two years in office were almost
completely free of terrorist bombings.
During his administration, Netanyahu was roundly criticized for
freezing the peace process and alienating both the Palestinian leadership
and American mediators. At the same time, he became the first Likud leader
to yield land to the Palestinians. His supporters say he can be expected to
make few concessions and to slow down negotiations, but not forgo them
altogether.
The silver-haired, silver-tongued politician is no doubt benefiting
from what newspapers here call his "virtual candidacy." Since he's not
really running yet in a race that hasn't really begun, he is not forced to
commit to concrete positions.
For all the talk of Netanyahu's political comeback, however, the
American-schooled politician in some ways never really left. His shadow has
hung over Israeli politics for months. Especially on the right, no leader
has emerged who could match Netanyahu's electable star quality.
"From the moment Bibi announced he was leaving politics, people awaited
the next moment when he would say he was coming back," said veteran Israeli
pollster Rafi Smith. "There's been a sense all along that Sharon could not
win an election and that he was just there temporarily. No one had the
internal power to replace Bibi."
Netanyahu narrowly avoided political doom when state prosecutors in
September decided not to try him and his wife, Sara, on corruption charges.
He has enjoyed a lucrative timeout from politics, working as a highly paid
consultant to an Israeli high-tech firm and making the rounds on the lecture
circuit. His return Monday was from a speaking tour in the U.S. that had to
be canceled in the San Francisco Bay Area because of left-wing protests
there.
During his 1996 campaign, Netanyahu skillfully exploited public fears
about security and cast himself as an outsider who appealed to religious
Zionists and working-class Israelis.
Netanyahu's supporters now contend that rivals are plotting to stymie
his return to office by changing the electoral system.
The idea of repealing the direct-election system for prime
minister--which favors small parties and charismatic candidates such as
Netanyahu--is gaining momentum. Opponents of the system argue that it has
led to Israel's current state of chaos because prime ministers can win
elections without having the backing of a majority in the Knesset. Instead,
they find themselves held hostage to splinter, single-agenda factions.
Reverting to the previous parliamentary system, in which votes are cast
for parties instead of individuals, favors big parties and candidates like
Sharon who otherwise would not appeal as widely to the electorate.
Israeli newspapers have reported, meanwhile, that negotiations to form
a unity government including Barak and Sharon have not died; both leaders
may see such an alliance, which would avert the need for elections, as the
only way to derail Netanyahu's challenge.
Every recent poll shows Netanyahu trouncing Barak by double-digit
margins if the two faced off today. But analysts say the gap would narrow
once Netanyahu was held up to public scrutiny.
"Let's not forget that Netanyahu's . . . collapse and the collapse of
his government was due more to his personality, his personal style,
corruption and arrogance, and the way he handled the internal affairs of his
party," said Ephraim Yaar, head of the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace
Research at Tel Aviv University. "He has not yet been an official candidate.
Once he is, there will be systematic attempts to remind people of who he
was."
Also on Monday, in public remarks that shocked Israelis, a former head
of the Israeli domestic security service blamed government policies for
triggering the Palestinian revolt.
Ami Ayalon, retired head of the Shin Bet security service, said Israel
is guilty of "apartheid" policies that go against the spirit of Judaism. He
suggested that the Palestinians were following a logic in choosing violence,
and spoke of the profound "humiliation" that Israel inflicts on Palestinian
workers and others who seek to enter Israel.
Such comments are commonly heard from Palestinians and outsiders but
rarely from an Israeli who has held senior-level positions in the security
establishment.
AMI AYALON: SEPARATION FROM PALESTINIANS
WILL HAVE DAMAGING BOOMERANG EFFECT
By Yossi Greenstein
(Ma'ariv, 5 December, p. 18): Diplomatic and economic separation from the Palestinians
will have a damaging boomerang effect on the state of Israel, said former GSS
head Ami Ayalon. "It's like separating two Siamese twins. It will hurt not only
them, but us as well." Ayalon spoke at a conference in memory of workers from
the Finance Ministry's budget division who fell during the Yom Kippur War.
"We could decide to be 'Polish' neighbors in the sense that 'Good fences make
good neighbors,' and thereby improve our neighborly relations. But this is not
the right analogy," said Ayalon. According to him, complete separation will cause
the Palestinians to act out against us. The relationship is complex and problematic,
he said. If we decide to sever the connection between these two twins, any decision
of this sort will affect us inwardly, not just in relation to our connection
with them.. The Palestinians will not like this reality and will strike out against
us due to a lack of alternatives. The question is not how much force we can apply,
but how much pain it will cause us. By the way, the neighbor is always considered
as ugly, small and miserable, and we are always tall and beautiful."
Ayalon complained about the freeze in the peace process: "We stopped the process
and only returned under [the threat of and actual] violence. During the Western
Wall tunnel incident [in 1996], we ran to Washington and gave them Hebron. We
release prisoners only when they kill soldiers and when they put a gun to our
head. For the parts of the corpse of Itamar Ilya, we released terrorists with
blood on their hands. What should the Palestinians and Hizbullah understand from
this? When the peace process goes into deep freeze, we come back only under pressure
and threats. That is the message to the Palestinians.
They think that they have another alternative, and the compromise we are offering
them is not an honorable one.
"The Palestinians learned that Israel only understands force," said Ayalon. "The
Palestinians believe that this is the only way they can realize their political
goals, the foremost of which is to found a state. "The things a Palestinian
has to endure, simply coming to work in the morning, is a long and continuous
nightmare that includes humiliation bordering on despair," added Ayalon. "But
in the last seven years he has discovered that there is another way. They learned
this from Hizbullah and from us.
"We have to decide soon what kind of democracy we want here. The present model
integrates apartheid and is not commensurate with Judaism. All the decisions
necessary to continue the peace process between us and the Palestinian go through
those very decisions that must be made in the debate over the essence of Israeli
democracy. Israel must now discuss the essence of its democracy and not postpone
it for another period. We will never attain security without an in-depth discussion
about this issue."
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