JINSA Report #560 Israel's Election

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March 29, 2006

JINSA Report #560
Israel's Election

After Hamas won the Palestinian legislative election, JINSA wrote that
relations with Israel were not a big part of the Palestinian
decision-making process.

Neither Fatah nor Hamas was going to make a serious "peace agreement"
with Israel; both Fatah and Hamas conduct terrorist operations and are
planning to continue to do so; neither Fatah nor Hamas accepts the
legitimacy of Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East; and neither can be
induced to do so by piecemeal Israeli concessions. The Palestinians knew
that and voted for the party they wanted to deal with their domestic
concerns.

For different reasons, or maybe the obverse reason, relations with the
Palestinians do not seem to have been a big part of Israeli electoral
decision-making. The Kadima (28 seats) platform was to unilaterally
determine the future shape and composition of Israel. There were big
gains for the "Russian" party (11 seats) and seven seats for the
"Pensioners," plus advances for Labor under the leadership of an
unabashed redistributionist. Labor has announced its intention to form a
"social bloc" with the Pensioners and Shas to negotiate with Kadima on
economic issues. Nearly 40 percent of the electorate didn't vote at all
in a country that routinely sends nearly 80 percent to the polls. The
right-of-center Russian party and left-of-center Labor both plan to join
a Kadima government.

The polite version of events is that Israelis believe a negotiated
settlement with the Palestinians is impossible for the foreseeable
future. The less polite version is that Israel is tired of holding out a
legitimate avenue for continuing talks with either Fatah or Hamas, both
of which believe the creation of Israel was a mistake that needs to be
rectified either by the political will of the international community or
through bloodshed. (Fatah takes the first view; Hamas the second.) As
long as Israel presents itself as a willing partner, there are those
willing to push it for ever greater concessions.

We note that the Subcommittee on the Middle East at the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe has decided to invite a delegation
from the Palestinian Legislative Council, which will include Hamas
representatives. The meeting will take place next month in Strasbourg.
The Subcommittee said the Palestinian elections were fair and free and
made no objection to the goals of Hamas vis a vis Israel. The Council of
Europe is not beholden to any individual European government's objection
to meeting with Hamas - oh, come to think of it, most of those have
quietly faded away, amid continuing blather about how best to funnel
ever more money to the Palestinians despite their choice of terrorists
as leaders (the U.S. is a full participant in these discussions). You
would think the Europeans might have at least some hesitation about
Hamas because it is allied with the swamp of radical Islamists as much
determined to do away with European democracy as with Israel. But maybe not.

It is hard to blame Israel for a sort of turtle response to the
cowardice around it. It is almost impossible to expect that Israel - in
the face of practical European and American acceptance of Hamas - remain
committed to a future negotiated with its enemies who are helped by
those who should be Israel's friends. The only comfort we take is that
elections in Israel are a regular feature of life in a democracy - and
that if life changes appreciably, Israelis will take another look at
their leadership.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3366

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