A number of interesting developments have taken place in Israeli politics, all with a definate bearing on the War against Jihad.
First of all, Israel's Labour Party has left the government following the victory for the party leadership of Amir Peretz over long time fixture Shimon Peres.
Jerusalem Post | Labour votes to leave government
Peretz is an extremly Leftist candidate who favors appeasement of the Palestinian Authority and opposes ex-Finance Minister Benjamin Netenyahu's free market reforms.
A labor ideologue in Israel his nickname among Israelis is `Mr. Strike'.
By moving to the far left in its politics, Labour is obviously seeking to polarize the Israeli electorate and receive a clear mandate for returning to a Socialist, government managed economy and a `nuanced' attitude towards terrorism. The disarray of Israel's political Right created by Sharon's Gaza disengagement and the subsequent border deal have encouraged the Israeli Left that an opportunity may now be at hand to avenge the landslide defeat they suffered in the last elections.
Peretz's victory destroyed any illusions Sharon had about a `national unity' party with Shimon Peres. However, Ariel Sharon, after doing much to destroy the Likud party he helped to found has decided to leave it behind and look for a political home elsewhere.Jerusalem Post | Sharon leaving Likud to form centerist party Who Arik's new allies will be remains unknown.
The Israeli Right has yet to rally around a leader. Netanyahu is still in the picture, but has substantial negatives mainly centering around an ongoing credibility problem. Many of my sources inIsrael have been touting Uzi Landau as the new Likud leader.
Sharon has already asked president Katsav to dissolve the Knesset. Elections are set for March 28th of 2005. it should be very interesting, to say the least....
No comments:
Post a Comment