Middle East

From the January 2003 issue of World Press Review (VOL. 50, No. 01)

Middle East/North Africa

Israel: Taking Off the Gloves

Elisa Ben-Rafael
World Press Review correspondent

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, shown here answering questions at an annual meeting with newspaper editors, Dec. 5, 2002, is expected to win the Israeli elections (Photo: AFP).

When the six Labor party ministers in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s national-unity government resigned Oct. 30, they triggered a chain reaction that toppled the government and led to Sharon’s call for early elections, less than two years into his term. The ministers pulled out over their unmet demand to redirect funding in the proposed 2003 budget from West Bank settlements to low-income Israeli towns. They took with them 25 Labor seats in the Knesset, leaving Sharon with the backing of 55 Knesset members, six short of a blocking majority. Commenting in the Jerusalem Post (Oct. 31), Abraham Diskin, a political scientist at the Hebrew University, observed: “The period of convenient cooperation is over.”

On Nov. 1, Ma’ariv’s editors wrote: “In one go: Everything was let out, from all directions, to all sides, and heavy burdens of jealousy, hatred, bitterness, and anger were released…proving once again that everything in the Israeli system, absolutely everything, is political.”

By Nov. 5, despite the fact that Sharon had named former IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz as defense minister and former Likud Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu as foreign minister, he could not form a stable coalition. Netanyahu, Sharon’s rival for Likud’s leadership, accepted the post on the condition that Sharon call early elections. The far-right National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu faction said that it would join if Sharon promised a “rightist-nationalist government” after elections, and demanded a billion shekels for right-wing institutions and settlements as the price for its participation.

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Yediot Aharonot’s terse Nov. 5 editorial asked: “What were the Jews busy with...in November 2002, when they are up to their necks with security, political, economic, and social problems? Unbelievable: At this difficult time, the two people aiming for the crown of leadership are dealing with who manipulated whom….For God’s sake, what are they dealing with up there?”

The following day, Hatzofeh’s editors condemned National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman and Netanyahu for placing impossible demands on Sharon.

With elections set for Jan. 28, and against a backdrop of party primaries, backroom maneuvering in early November produced a number of surprising alliances. The far-right parties announced their unification into a single list. Haifa Mayor Amram Mitzna, a contender for Labor party leader, was reported in Ha’aretz (Nov. 12) to declare that he was “joining forces” with the secularist Shinui party. And Yisrael Aheret (A Different Israel), a fledgling movement spearheaded by a group of business leaders whose slogan is “government without politicians,” emerged as a political factor.

At press time, polls indicated Sharon would prevail over his rival Netanyahu in the Likud primary on Nov. 28 and win the general election. The polls prompted Ha’aretz commentator Yoel Marcus to write (Nov. 12): “Were there an Israeli version of the TV series ‘Everyone Loves Raymond’, I would call it ‘Everyone Loves Arik’ [Sharon’s nickname]. Not because it would be funnier but because it would be weirder.”

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