Israeli Political Roundup - Peres Out Edition
Amir Peretz's betrayal of elder statesman Shimon Peres - having Peres expend precious political capital and credibility to bring Peretz's breakaway One Nation party back into Labor and then running against Peres in the party primary - has forced one of Israel's founding fathers out of political party life:
After 61 years in the Labor party and a record 46 years in the Knesset, Shimon Peres announced on Wednesday evening that he was quitting party politics. "My political party activities have come to an end, but my contribution to peace and to the development of the Negev and the Galilee is still vital. I intend to dedicate the next several years to the effort of bringing peace to our region," Peres announced during a press conference he convened in his Tel Aviv office.
Decorous grace not exactly being the sine qua non of Israeli politics, one shouldn't be surprised that Labor leaders are virtually foaming at the mouth:
That didn't stop senior Labor officials from saying Monday that they were glad [Peres] is gone... "Peres for 20 years has been a burden that has harmed Labor," former MK Weizmann Shiri said. "No one seriously wants him to stay. I would be glad if he has finally left. He has undermined every Labor leader in the last decade. I give credit to Amir Peretz for not letting him undermine him."
It's not so much the resentment and viciousness as the willful ignorance of history that's bothersome. Ehud Barak and Avram Mitzna undermined themselves by pathetically promising to make massive concessions to the Palestinians in the face of Palestinian violence - without even reserving the military option that Peres did when Hamas began their campaign to derail Oslo. And it was Peres who was left - every time - to pick up the pieces left by his younger colleagues’ recklessness. And when he wasn't creating or keeping alive the Labor Party, Peres served as Director General of the Defense Ministry, Minister of Defense, and Prime Minister.
He now he is leaving to support Sharon's Kadima party in the coming elections, claiming that only Sharon has the public support and the political will to firmly guarantee a democratic Jewish majority in Israel. In addition to being good politics that is, well, true. But As more and more of Israel's leading figures flock to Sharon's party, those who aren't invited have some choice things to say from the right...:
MK Binyamin Netanyahu said, "It is now clear more than ever that Kadima is Left," while Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar said, "Voting for Kadima would be like voting for the Labor Party."
... and from the left:
"Peres' invented ideology is embarrassing and bizarre," Labor MK Ophir Paz-Pines said Wednesday. "Labor is committed more than any other party to the peace process and Peres' attempt to tie his move to peace is pathetic." Labor Party Secretary-General, MK Eitan Cabel, said in response, "It's a sad day when a leader that has received so much from the Labor Party abandons it just as it seems to have found a new hope."
As Sharon and his allies try to position themselves in the center where the vast majority of Israelis are, the far Right is accusing them of being too far Left and the far Left is accusing them of being too far Right. We're not experts, but doesn't that seem not very smart?
There's also news on international endorsement front: Saudi Arabia has officially come out in favor of Amir Peretz as the man who can best ensure Middle East peace. So that should help clear things up.
