From the “We already know this” file…
As if the warnings about West Nile fever, smallpox and radioactive fallout were not enough, Sharon is now threatening us with early elections. Everyone knows, of course, that this is just a trick to get his partners in the government to vote for the budget, lest Israel’s credit ratings drop. But the more you think about this threat, which he doesn’t actually mean to carry out, the more you see it’s not such a bad idea. It’s even in the public interest to hold him to his word, before he changes his mind.
Because the public has caught on already: It knows that nothing good will come out of a government headed by Sharon. There’s no point in letting it lie there, clinically dead, until October 2003.
Throughout his lengthy career, Sharon has successfully moved up the ladder from one rung to the next. Now, as the Peter Principle puts it, he has reached his “level of incompetence.” That level is prime minister. He is simply not cut out to run a country.
In his 16 months in office, heading a whale-sized government, he has pushed the country downhill in every sphere. Everyone knows that there is no way of rescuing the economy, the burning issue of the day, without a political solution to the conflict. Under these circumstances, there is no justification for sitting and twiddling our thumbs until we reach the point of a military and economic Sabra and Chatilla. Elections, he said? For once, let’s hold him to it.
Election day also needs to be pushed up because of the cancellation of direct elections, in which astronauts dropped down from the sky, were elected like contestants in a beauty contest, and acted like they had been anointed king. Now we will vote with one slip, for both the party and its platform. The elected head of the party will have to put his party’s policies into practice.
Voters are sick and tired of the empty promises of Bibi, Barak and Sharon, none of whom were right for the job. Now voters want another Israel, with a leadership that comes up with solutions and does what it promises to do.
Israel’s defense strategy has always been based on the principle of speedy wars that move quickly into enemy territory: Money is short and Israelis can’t hold their breaths too long. The Palestinians have turned the tables, saddling us with a long war, and on our own turf. That being the case, we need a government determined to provide the other side with the vistas that will make it easier to stop the violence and start talking. But Sharon doesn’t want to get to the third stage of Bush’s plan, because that means he’ll have to start making “painful concessions.”
What is not clear is how the Labor Party can continue its partnership with Sharon, living with a defense, economic and social platform it opposes. “Mentally, we want out, but we need a `case’ worthwhile going to the polls for,” says one Labor minister. Case, shmase. The Labor Party today is like a scrambled egg, all mixed up. It may talk about peace, but it is a full partner to Sharon’s big-bully policies.
With Fuad and Sharon in the same boat, afraid of not being elected to head their parties, I wouldn’t be surprised if they set the election date together, making sure that Labor remains trapped in a transition government so that Fuad can go to battle wearing the mantle of defense minister.
Cynics will say that the Labor Party doesn’t want Fuad to head the party so as not to break a record: In all the 54 years of the state, no Mizrahi candidate on the Labor list has ever got near the defense portfolio, much less the job of prime minister. Amram Mitzna’s parachute drop from nowhere, straight onto center stage, is not a trick to confuse the enemy, that is, Sharon or Bibi - but a Fuad-blocker.
The Labor Party has learned nothing. All these parachute drops from out of the blue have failed. And in the bargain, the parachutist this time is a man known for his modesty who says that having no experience is an advantage. If you’ve got the personality, you don’t need experience, he explains. Let’s see him dismantle 200 settlements by charisma alone.
Pushing up the elections is crucial because it will force the two parties to redefine themselves. The public must know who is for peace, whatever the price, and who prefers the road to war. Time is not on our side.