Israeli left dwindles with its hopes

One of many demonstrations this autumn organised by the Israeli right in protest at knife stabbings. Photo by Ido Erez

Men behind Oslo Accord: There’s no leadership fighting for the future

Reality has sloped steeply downill for Israel’s left since the Oslo Accords and leaders who were then heroes of hope now see little light at the end of the tunnel.

Nechama Duek, Ynet magazine
October 26, 2015

The results of the 2015 election, discourse on social media, and the recent wave of terror attacks, have dealt significant blows to Israel’s left, which has already been bleeding from open wounds for many years.

More and more of those who support a two-state solution have moved into the camp of “there’s no one to talk to” and there are even some who believe that the odds of launching negotiations with our neighbours in the next few years are decreasing. The basic idea of the parties on the left who maintain that there are partners we can talk to and if we just give up a little more things will fall into place, remains among just a few individuals and even they are having difficulty defending it.

Doctor Uri Savir [L], one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, who serves today as a co-founder of the Peres Centre for Peace, is angry at the Israeli left.

“They made a mistake by giving up the fight against the right,” he says. “Even during the time of the Oslo Accords, the energy in the streets was that the settlers had won and destroyed Rabin’s legacy. The left came to protest at the square when the water was up to their necks and then what happened, happened.

“But it wasn’t the left who destroyed Oslo, it was Bibi – on purpose. I didn’t believe him for a moment when he said that he would make two states a reality. When will the left wake up again? Only after a lot of suffering or if a leader presents himself with security credentials. Until then, they sit in the living room on Fridays and gripe.”

Is there even anyone to talk to?

“We won’t have better neighbours than the Palestinians. Once every two weeks I’m in Ramallah and I see a different reality there. A thick book could be written on all the mistakes they’ve made, but does that mean that we should have to live in a bi-national nation led by the right?

“There is someone to talk to. We just need to move past our internal despair and get rid of our love of occupying. If not, we are headed for a religious war.”

They’ll win in the end
Nissim Zvili, one of the past leaders of the left and the Labour Party that fought to change the paradigm that speaking to Arafat was forbidden, has already lost all hope.

Nissim Zvili taking part remotely in a French debate on the recognition of a Palestinian state, 2014. Screenshot.

“The concept of the left hasn’t been destroyed, but the train has left the station. In my opinion, and I hope I’ll be proven wrong, there’s no longer any hope of realizing the concept of two states and we’re headed, because of the indifference of the people and the left that just doesn’t exist, for a bi-national state.

“Unfortunately, the option of two states also doesn’t exist from the other side. I meet and speak with them and they also point to extremist sentiments that are getting stronger among them and have decided that in another two or three generations there will be a bi-national state here and then they’ll get the right to vote and beat us.”

Ya’alon or Bibi won’t make the change?

“The heavy hand of the right will lead to a reality in which my grandchildren won’t be able to live here. And that’s not because the left has lost its way and not because of the right’s pragmatism, but because there’s no leadership that’s fighting for the future. Bibi isn’t Begin and Ya’alon isn’t Ben-Gurion.”

So we should just give up?

“The left today… are organized people that have been in wars, some of which they won and some of which they lost and at the moment they remain content with making judgments from the couch in the living room.

“The left, which has never been good at protesting, has also stopped fighting. The right is leading us, consciously or not, into a process that will delete Israel from the map. The messianic right and the extremist right have taken control of the Likud and in my opinion, by the end of the century Israel won’t exist as the Jewish nation.”

Ya’akov Peri, former head of the Shin Bet until just six months before Rabin’s murder, believes that the two-state solution is in fact the only solution.

“But right-wing governments have managed to indoctrinate a growing part of the population with thoughts that there is no partner and that the other side doesn’t want peace or compromise. The failure of all of the rounds of talks strengthened that belief within the right and the center that there is a partner problem.”

So what’s the solution?

“The prime minister claims to believe in a two-state solution, but doesn’t mean it. I say: Stop talking about peace and start talking about agreements. We are six million Jews here and within 20 years we’ll be a minority and we won’t be able to continue controlling the area by force.

“That’s why, at this time, there’s no point in seeking a final agreement to divide the country, but rather to agreements on issues like the reconstruction of Gaza funded by the moderate Arab countries. Even if these agreements take 100 years, who cares? The point is to have hope here.”

Ultra-Orthodox Jews shout at a policeman during a protest against the opening of a road on the Sabbath, 2012. Photo by Reuters. Photo used to illustrate story of another poll:

A survey commissioned by a US-based non-profit organisation has claimed that the majority of Jews in Israel supports an apartheid regime if Israel annexes the West Bank.

Based on a sample of 503 interviewees, the study conducted by Dialog for the New Israel Fund (NIF) reveals that most Jewish people in Israel hold anti-Arab and ultra-conservative views.  from Israeli Jews Support Apartheid Regime, Survey Reveals, IBT, October 23, 2012

Religious Jews have no faith in Israel’s Arabs, survey shows

Public opinion poll reveals 85% of national-religious Jews see the Arab Muslim sector as an existential threat to the State of Israel, 70% boycott Arab businesses and 53.5% are in favour of discussing a forced population transfer.

By Kobi Nachshoni, Ynet news
October 21, 2015

According to figures released by the Miskar institute, which specializes in the national-religious public, 70 percent try to avoid purchasing products and services from Muslim Arabs, only 14 percent oppose such a boycott and 16 percent have no opinion on the matter.

Sixty-seven percent say the Israeli government should prepare a practical plan to encourage the emigration of Israel’s Muslim Arabs, while 13 are against it and 10 percent are indifferent.

In addition, 53.5 percent believe the option of carrying out a forced population transfer should be brought back to the public discourse, 19 percent are against it and 27.5 percent have no opinion on the matter.

Sixty-nine percent are in favour of imposing a formal loyalty oath to the State of Israel as a condition for Arabs to receive an Israeli citizenship, while 16 percent are against it and 14 percent are indifferent.

‘Arabs don’t suffer from discrimination’

Eighty-one percent agree with the statement that ‘the majority of Arab Muslims are hostile towards the State of Israel and Israel’s Jewish citizens,” only 10 percent don’t share that opinion and 9 percent are neutral.

Eighty-five percent believe the Arab Muslim sector poses an existential threat to the State of Israel in the long run (and 70 percent believe it also poses a threat in the short run). Eight percent disagree and seven percent are indifferent.

Asked whether there were any significant expressions of racism towards Arabs in the Israeli society, 40 percent of national-religious Jews said there weren’t, 34 percent said there were and 26 percent had no opinion.

Sixty percent refuse to accept the claim that the majority of Israel’s Muslim Arabs oppose the riots and unrest in the Arab sector and want to be part of the Israeli social fabric. Only 18 percent agree with the claim, and 22 percent are indifferent.

Similarly, 61 percent reject the claim that Arabs find it difficult to integrate into the general society due to discrimination and few opportunities, while 21 percent agree with the claim and 18 have no opinion.

‘The Arab political leadership is out of touch’

In general, only 30 percent of national-religious Jews believe that Israel’s Arabs suffer from “poor investment of the public sector in all layers of life.” Forty-percent don’t recognize that, and 26% have no opinion either way.

Thirty-eight percent say it is important for Jews and Arabs to cooperate in the economic-commercial area in order to strengthen the feeling of a normal life. Thirty-five percent are against it and 27% are indifferent.

Forty-six percent of national-religious Jews are convinced that the Israeli Arabs’ political and religious leadership is out of touch with what its voters want, 23 percent disagree and 31 percent have no opinion.

The survey, which was conducted under the professional and scientific guidance of Dr. Ido Liberman, included 480 men and women over the age of 16, who make up a representative sample of the national-religious population in Israel. The maximum sampling error was 4.5 percent.