FYI Devorah Kalekin-Fishman, Dr. Rer. Soc. Faculty of Education University of Haifa Haifa, Israel 31905 Tel.: +972-4-8249357 Fax: +972-4-8240911 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Additional phone: +972-4-8123605
----- Original Message ----- From: "Uri Avnery" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Encounter-EMEM for international Israel-Palestine peace activities" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002 12:57 AM Subject: [EMEM] Avnery on helping Sharon ["How to Help Sharon" article, FYI] > Hi, > > Hope the following may be of interest. > > Salamaat, Shalom, > uri > > > Uri Avnery > December 14, 2002 > > How to Help Sharon > > If you want to help Ariel Sharon to remain in power - > here is some useful advice. > > > One: Talk about a "National Unity Government" that will be > set up after the elections. > > This is a sophisticated trick. It says, in effect, that > there is no difference between Likud and Labor. If so, > why vote for Labor? If it is nothing but a personal > choice between Sharon and Mitzna, who will anyhow > sit tomorrow side-by-side at the same table, isn't the > experienced and charismatic Sharon preferable to the > inexperienced and prosaic Mitzna? On the other hand, > this is a sure recipe for driving away from the Labor > party everyone who detests Sharon. > > Furthermore, those who speak about a Unity > Government say, in effect, that the Likud is sure to win. > Nobody talks about a Unity Government led by Mitzna. > It is a foregone conclusion that the Unity Government > will be headed by Sharon. Since the floating votes > always tend to float to the prospective victor, the > message is clear. > > This may also prove to be a prophecy that fulfils > itself. If Mitzna is defeated, the party will fall again into > the hands of the Knights of the Sticky Behinds. > > > Two: Spread the story about the moderate "New Sharon", > who has practically become a leftist and whose > only dream is to enter history as the man who > has made peace with the Palestinians. > > Anyone familiar with Sharon knows that this is a > myth, the creative product of spin-doctors. > > Sharon has not become a moderate. For two years > now he has waged a relentless war against the > Palestinians, with the aim of breaking the Palestinian > nation by destroying their national leadership, > killing their leaders and demolishing their economic > infrastructure. He has blocked every channel of > dialogue. He has committed daily provocations. > He has built settlements at a frantic pace. > The "moderate" declarations were designed for > American and Israeli innocents. > > Sharon's statements about a "Palestinian state" are > nonsense. He is prepared, at most, to give the > Palestinians some emasculated autonomy over 40% of > the occupied territories (8% of pre-1948 Palestine), and > this only after the Palestinians raise their hands and > capitulate unconditionally. He knows perfectly well that > no Palestinians will accept that. Therefore, the real aim > is to drive the Palestinians out of the country. For this > program there is a clear majority in the Likud, Shas, > Mafdal and National Union parties, who may constitute > a majority in the next elections. > > The main peddler of the pictures of the Peace-loving > Sharon is Shimon Peres. After spending the last two > years as the National Prostitute, he is longing for more > years of the same. He may turn his private farce into a > national tragedy. Since he cannot exist without > ministerial rank, he would sell his grandmother - not to > mention his party - for one day as Foreign Minister. > > Because of this, he talks now as if the defeat of > Mitzna were a fait accompli and there was nothing left > but to negotiate the terms of surrender (the Foreign > Office for Peres). > > > Three: Do everything possible to dwarf Mitzna. > > Amram Mitzna is the rival candidate. There is no > other. One may admire him or not, love him or not - if > one wants to defeat Sharon, one must concentrate on > raising Mitzna's stature. The election campaign will be > first and foremost a personal duel between these two > men. If one wants to help Sharon, one has to paint > Mitzna as a hapless person, a prisoner of the rightists > in his own party. One has to say that even his own > party opposes his policy, that his leftist line will prove > disastrous for Labor. > > > Four: Trigger a civil war between the parties of the left. > > If a war will break out between the Labor party and > Meretz, and between the two and Hadash - that would > be wonderful. They will be busy blackening each other > and doing the job of the right. Neither of them will have > any energy left to fight against Sharon. > > The Beilin affair may prove useful for this end. > It is being presented as proving the hypocrisy and/or > weakness of Mitzna and showing that the party has > turned to the right. This is far removed from reality. > The fall of Beilin (who did not get enough votes in the > Labor primaries) was caused by inter-party rivalries. > He has become widely unpopular within the party by > threatening to leave if it does not adopt his program. > A party that elected Mitzna by an overwhelming majority > does not suddenly become hawkish by dropping Beilin. > It is by no means clear who of the two is the more > "leftist". > > But all of this is not really important. In the final > analysis, there is almost no difference between voting > for Labor, Meretz, Hadash and the Arab parties. All of > them together will constitute a parliamentary > "preventive bloc" against the right. A war between > them now would be a criminal waste. > > > Five: Say that "they are all the same" and call for abstention. > > That will not affect the rightist voters. They would > turn up at the polling stations even during an earthquake. > But such a call could affect leftist voters, who are > famously fastidious. Any abstention "on principle" will > help the right, every blank ballot will be a ballot for > Sharon. > > > Six: Call on the Arab voters to boycott the elections. > > The million Israeli Arab citizens are a natural partner > of the peace camp. Without them, there can be no > effective political left in Israel. He who incites them to > stay away from the ballot box does the job of Sharon. > > This is so self-evident, that one could suspect some > of those waving the flag of boycott of being agents of > Sharon or the Security Service (which is the same). > The more extreme the nationalist and/or Islamic fervor > of the boycott advocates, the greater my suspicions. > > The Arab citizens have many excellent reasons for > being furious with the Israeli establishment, including > the Labor party. But the fury must be channeled into an > effort to set up a strong parliamentary force, able to > fight for their rights and aspirations. A rage that only > helps to reinforce a rightist government is an infantile > exercise in self-indulgence. > > For a community threatened by transfer, this is an > act of self-destruction. Indeed, it is difficult to > understand leaders who talk about the danger of a > "second Nakba", and at the same time behave as if it's > business as usual. > > > Well, anyone who wants to help Sharon has a range > of methods to choose from. > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > Rent DVDs Online-No late fees! Try Netflix for FREE! > http://us.click.yahoo.com/XfSp7B/XlOFAA/46VHAA/BwowlB/TM > ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Encounter-EMEM for international Israel-Palestine peace activities. > http://groups.Yahoo.com/group/Encounter-EMEM > > When forwarding messages from Encounter-EMEM, > please include this footer so that others interested > in peace activism will know how & where to tune in. > > Press the "Reply" button on your email program to reply to the group. > > To reply to the sender only, replace the group's address > with the relevant individual's address. > > To send new subject messages, post to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Feel free to invite other peace activists to join! > http://groups.Yahoo.com/group/Encounter-EMEM/join > > Register with YahooGroups to use all the available features: > http://groups.Yahoo.com > > Visit the Encounter Website at http://www.salam-shalom.net > > To unsubscribe from this group by email, send a message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > EMEM allows distribution of messages discussing international > Israel-Palestine peace activities, for the purpose > of planning and coordinating those activities. > If you prefer to receive only peace activity announcements > for activities in Israel, please subscribe to: > ActLeft - a moderated Action mailing list: > announcements only, no discussion or opinions. > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ActLeft > > To view a calendar of events in Israel, go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ActLeft/calendar > > Links to related sites: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Encounter-EMEM/links > > > Your use of Yahoo! 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