-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Dove wins Israel's Labour leadership Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Tuesday November 19 2002 The Guardian Israel's Labour party hauled itself back into the peace camp yesterday by electing a dovish former army general to lead it into January's general election. An exit poll gave Amram Mitzna, the mayor of the coastal city of Haifa, 57% of the vote, compared to 35% for the current Labour party leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. Knesset member Haim Ramon was a distant third with 8%. His victory offers voters a stark choice between Mr Sharon's belief in military control as the best means of assuring Israel's security and the view that peace will come only by ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories. He has pledged to immediately remove the highly contentious Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip and to dismantle most, but not all, of those on the West Bank. To the fury of many on the right, he said that as prime minister he would begin unconditional negotiations with Yasser Arafat to establish an independent Palestine. His most radical proposal is to unilaterally pull the Israeli army out of the West Bank and leave the Palestinians to govern themselves if talks fail by the end of his first year in office. "We will try to separate ourselves from the Palestinians by agreement. If that fails, we go to a unilateral approach," he said. While Ariel Sharon and the right insist that they will not talk to Mr Arafat under any circumstances - and only to other members of the Palestinian leadership once the terrorist attacks stop - Mr Mitzna says he will not lay down any preconditions to talks. "We will talk as if there is no terrorism and we will fight terrorism as if there are no negotiations. "To say there can be no negotiations while there is terrorism is to give the right of veto to extremists. That's stupid," he said. Mr Mitzna is also in a minority among Israelis in questioning the sincerity of previous peace offers to the Palestinians. As things stand, he is unlikely to be able to put his policies into practice. An election today would probably see Mr Sharon's Likud snap up a third more seats in the knesset while Labour will be hard pressed to hang on to what they already have. Even half of all Labour members do not believe their party can win the general election on January 28. But some of Mr Mitzna's al lies believe that voters are tiring of policies that may have hit back at the Palestinians but have done little for Israel's security. It is one of the paradoxes of Israeli society that Mr Sharon's militarist approach and the peace camp both command high levels of support. "I can't say people are ready to leave the military option but I can say that both sides are ready to consider solutions they haven't considered before," said Yossi Beilin, a former Labour party cabinet minister. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
