MERETZ MATTERS – Winter 2006

The following is from Dr. Yossi Beilin’s November letter to international friends of Meretz:

The surprise victory of Amir Peretz over Shimon Peres in the primaries for the leadership of the Labor Party was something of a political earthquake, with several after-shocks, one more dramatic than the other.  True to his word, Peretz immediately moved to take his party out of Sharon’s government and force early elections on Sharon.  With early elections all but inevitable, Sharon felt pressed to decide on his own political future.  His decision to quit Likud and form a new, so-called “centrist” party was no less dramatic than Peretz’s victory.

While the political implications of these two developments remain to be seen, the ideological significance is already clear.  Peretz is an unabashed proponent of the Oslo process and of the need to reach a final-status agreement with the Palestinians.  And while he is not a signatory to the Geneva Initiative—and has even distanced himself from the brand-name—he has embraced the core principles of Geneva.  At the same time, Peretz is also an ideological proponent of the welfare state, and stands for the social-democratic principles that we espouse.  Meanwhile, Sharon’s split from Likud represents a big victory for the idea of a two-state solution and a clear and public admission by Likud that it has deceived the nation, and itself, for the past 38 years.

What does all this mean, politically speaking, for Meretz-Yahad?  A lot of hope.  Peretz’s very victory has already breathed new life into the Labor party, and by extension, to the peace camp.   The past weeks have brought considerable new energy to the left and raised – for the first time in five years – the very prospect of a center-left victory.  And once a center-left victory is imaginable, the fortunes of our party rise.  It is not, or not only, that more people now support Meretz-Yahad; I believe that more people actually do.  Given the record of what the combination of Sharon and Labor amounts to—which is to say, an uninspiring and incoherent vision of unilateralist steps, settlement expansion, and perhaps a long-term interim agreement—the value of a strong Meretz-Yahad becomes clear.

But no less important in elections is the turnout among our supporters.  The sense of defeatism and crippling pessimism that kept many of our supporters at home in the last election led to our shrunken size in the most recent Knesset.  With a center-left coalition now imaginable, however, we expect our supporters to come out and vote, and for Meretz-Yahad to increase its power.

This will not be easy.  For with two popular leaders at the head of the newly-established center and Labor parties, the competition for votes will be fierce and highly ideological.  But I hope that our potential supporters will understand that, with a Sharon-Peretz coalition being the likely outcome, the size of Meretz-Yahad will be a potentially critical factor in the balance of power between the center and the left, and indeed a vital force in determining the shape and direction of Israel’s next overnment.                                                                                 

Remembering Rabin at New School Panel

The Meretz USA event commemorating the 10^th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination – “Remembering Rabin: Whither Peace? Whither Israel?” – co-sponsored with the New School in New York, went off successfully before a packed audience, on the evening of November 9.  (Kol hakavod to Lilly Rivlin for her dedication in pulling this together; we know it wasn’t easy.)

The panel was moderated by Leonard Lopate, who hosts on New York’s NPR affiliate, WNYC, the most popular radio talk show nationally in the noon to 2 PM time slot. The three participants were Sam Norich (head of the Forward Association and a vice president of Ameinu), Judith Kipper (a Middle East specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations), and Dr. Ziad Asali (president of the American Task Force on Palestine). 

Dr. Asali, an M.D. who has also served his community as president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, is a prominent voice for peace and reconciliation. He called for “an alliance of all bedfellows” for a two-state solution.

Judith Kipper stated that there is no current peace process and that the Road Map is no longer relevant. She also declared that peace cannot be achieved on a piecemeal basis and asserted that the Israelis and Palestinians cannot come to an agreement without outside help, because it requires “giving in” to the other. She described both sides as "each other's perfect victim" and emphasized the need for US intervention.

Sam Norich took exception to some of Ms. Kipper’s views, accusing her of “psychologizing” the issues. Norich sees the US role as essential but not sufficient. He reminded the audience of the Palestinian move toward violence in 2000, even among many who advocate a two-state solution,  and decried the existence of Palestinian agents on the ground, like Islamic Jihad, who would veto a peace agreement. Prompted by Lopate, Norich also spoke of “an antagonistic cooperation between rejectionists on both sides.”

Visitors from Meretz-Yahad

On Oct. 20, the executive committee was addressed by Gavri Bargil, a former Meretz shaliakh (Zionist emissary) in the 1990s, now one of the two heads of the recently unified Kibbutz Movement. And on Oct. 24, Meretz USA was briefed by Meretz party chair, Dr. Yossi Beilin.

The comments of each were made prior to the explosive events triggered by Amir Peretz’s victory in the Labor party primary, but Bargil was particularly well-informed in reporting that Prime Minister Sharon was disappointed that he had triumphed in the September showdown vote of the Likud central committee – having actually desired a defeat to precipitate his split with Likud at that time, rather than later, as occurred. To the chagrin of some in his audience, Bargil relayed how most Israelis now see Sharon as leader of the peace camp. Yet the good news is that most Israelis want additional withdrawals from the West Bank, but are not troubled whether they are accomplished unilaterally or through negotiations. 

The Meretz message is that Mahmoud Abbas/Abu Mazen is a genuine partner for peace, making it possible to push for final-status negotiations now. But as with the disengagement, Meretz would not oppose new unilateral moves that successfully evacuate Palestinian territory.

We heard directly from Yossi Beilin that Meretz would no longer rule out a coalition with Sharon. Meretz understands that many of its supporters want to exercise power rather than remain in the opposition. If the direction of a Sharon-Labor government would be a territorial settlement with the Palestinians, Meretz might well join to bolster a stable majority for initiatives in this direction.

Beilin mentioned that the Meretz campaign will be chaired by former Knesset member (and a favorite guest of ours in the US) Prof. Naomi Chazan. The campaign will emphasize social issues, such as a change in the Law of Return to recognize children of a Jewish father as Jews and domestic partnership as a legal status.  Meretz, seeing itself as a Jewish-Arab (as well as Zionist) party, will also make increased efforts for Israeli-Arab support.

MK Ran Cohen visited a few days after the Peretz triumph in Labor. As minister of industry and trade during Ehud Barak’s brief tenure as prime minister, he planned industrial zones on the borders of Israel and the occupied territories, to provide thousands of Palestinian and Israeli jobs; sadly, this initiative was destroyed by the Al-Aksa Intifada. 

As also a non-Ashkenazi immigrant (from Iraq) who has worked for the rights of the poor and working class – especially in the area of access to housing – Cohen has a reputation as a social champion, second perhaps only to Peretz. Cohen expressed positive feelings on Peretz’s abilities as a leader and his capacity to win the coming election. Personality-wise, Cohen candidly described Peretz as “not the most lovely man,” but does not regard him as corrupt in the way he sees Sharon and Netanyahu.                                                                                                

[These comments on Amir Peretz resembled those heard at the November executive committee meeting from Jerry Goodman, executive director of the National Committee for Labor Israel. Goodman was laudatory about Peretz, and when pressed, described him as a decisive and tough leader, rather than authoritarian.]

As a fighter against West Bank settlements since 1968, when he confronted then Defense Minister Shimon Peres for supporting the establishment of Elon Moreh (Sebastia) at that time, Ran Cohen will support unilateral separation if it’s on the agenda, on the theory that any move to dismantle settlements – “a cancer” – is a good thing.  He recalled with regret that Rabin at the last minute had shied away from forcibly expelling settlers from Hebron after Baruch Goldstein, a follower of Meir Kahane, massacred 29 Muslim worshipers at the mosque at Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs in February 1994. 

Baskin and Siniora Address Beit Shalom

The co-executive directors of the peace think-tank, IPCRI, the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, addressed a lively Meretz USA audience, November 30. Gershon Baskin and Hanna Siniora spoke about how they came to be involved in their peace activities, and how IPCRI has evolved since it was founded by Baskin in 1988.

Hanna Siniora moved on from his family’s pharmacy business to be the founder of the Arabic Al Fajr and the English-language Jerusalem Times newspapers. He is a joint sponsor of the All-for-Peace Radio project with the Givat Haviva Institute.

Gershon Baskin made aliya as a product of the Young Judea Zionist youth group. In 1981, he became the first participant in the Interns for Peace program, which placed Jews in Israeli-Arab communities. Shortly after, he engineered a job for himself as Israel’s first civil servant dedicated to Jewish-Arab relations. He founded IPCRI after courageously visiting a refugee camp during the first year of the Intifada, to learn from an informal dialogue with Palestinian youth what they wanted. What he learned inspired his conviction that a peaceful two-state solution to the conflict was possible.  Baskin also consulted veteran peace activist Moti Peled, who urged Baskin to concentrate on cultivating the establishment (instead of organizing street demonstrations) and never to mention Peled’s name.

Siniora and Baskin are currently engaged in a peace education project, having produced 200 sample lesson plans which deal honestly with the conflict and are designed to teach coexistence. They want to help develop revised text books for K-12 for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  Their next project is to build an online media source that would target a region-wide audience in Arabic, English and Hebrew. 

Baskin (who is a member of Meretz) sees the election as resulting in Sharon as prime minister but in a strong coalition with Labor in which the two parties by themselves constitute a majority of over 60 seats in the Knesset.  He further predicted that the new Sharon-led government would make a major move to evacuate settlements to the east of the security barrier. Sharon would prefer to do this unilaterally rather than through negotiations and he doesn't want to finalize peace during his term, but if he removes tens of thousands of West Bank settlers, Baskin would say, “dayenu” (enough for us).

Baskin also has very close contacts with the Sharon camp –  probably almost as close as he used to have with the Barak government.  Baskin said that Sharon's #2, Tzipi Livni, is much further to the left than widely realized.  He indicated that her first draft of the new Kadima party platform does not mention Israel’s retention of the Jordan River Valley and that she is not the kind of person to leave out such details by accident.  When Baskin approached a contact in Sharon's office about being an advisor in relations with the Palestinians, the good-humored response was that Baskin might not be far enough to the left for them.

But both Baskin and Siniora acknowledged that there are danger signs that the window of opportunity for a two-state solution is closing. They see a growing number of Palestinian intellectuals beginning to reject it and warned of the demographic trend that, without a final peace agreement, would leave a non-Jewish majority from the Jordan to the Mediterranean without a state granting them equal rights. Such an “apartheid” situation would not be tolerated by the world, they said.

When asked why a “one-state solution” would not be a good idea, Siniora indicated that it would guarantee that one people dominates the other and would lead to civil war rather than peace. Baskin added that, as a Jew and a Zionist, he sees the Jewish people as having the right to a state of their own.

Among the more hopeful things they said is that if Egypt were to engage in a seemingly unlikely trilateral swap of territory with Israel and Palestine, the Gaza Strip could be expanded toward El Arish in the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt could acquire a land link with Jordan and Saudi Arabia. What gives this scheme (first conceived by Hebrew University's former rector, the geographer Yehoshua Ben-Arieh) an ounce of credibility is that IPCRI has received a hint from Sharon’s office that if Egypt were to consent to this plan, Israel would show flexibility regarding the future status of Jerusalem.

Mention was also made of Mahmoud Abbas’s nuanced way of articulating the Palestinian “right of return.” He repeatedly states this in Arabic as their “right of return to the homeland,” a formulation that Arafat never used and that allows verbal wiggle room for the right to live in a future Palestinian state, rather than what today is Israel.

Siniora and Baskin also indicated that Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned for five consecutive life terms on multiple counts of murder, is likely to be released one day [see item below]. He has already been permitted prison visits by a number of Palestinian leaders seeking his endorsement. Baskin said that the indictment against Barghouti was for murder, yet since he was convicted on evidence of conspiracy instead, Baskin believes that a legal loophole was intentionally created that would one day spring him from prison. Their hope is that this most popular of Palestinian political figures may eventually be released to finalize a peace agreement.

Although their presentation may seem crazily optimistic, they did not ignore the dark complexities. They readily acknowledged that walling off East Jerusalem within the Israeli side risks the launching of a new Intifada eventually, from an entrapped Palestinian population. And the construction in the “E-1" area (between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim) to solidify Jewish settlements to the west of the security barrier  not only hems in East Jerusalem, but also disrupts vital road links within the West Bank.

They also described Gaza as under the control of “warlords,” “crime lords” and “extortionists.” Baskin sees an absolute necessity for Abu Mazen to militarily confront the militants. Siniora was not sure that this would be possible, but he seemed to indicate his assent by symbolically referring to such an event as a Palestinian “Altalena” (the name of the gun-running Irgun ship that was sunk on Ben-Gurion’s command to force the Irgun and Stern Gang to surrender to the formation of a single national army).

Still, they applauded the efforts of US envoy James Wolfensohn, particularly his role in organizing the purchase of the former settler greenhouses in Gaza. They indicated that, despite widespread impressions to the contrary, most of the greenhouses are in full operation today with still more becoming operational soon.  And they praised Secretary of State Rice’s mediation to secure the opening of the Rafah border crossing into

 Beilin Advocates Barghouti’s Release

As if in concert with the presentation by Baskin and Siniora, Yossi Beilin’s article, “Free Marwan Barghouti To Counter Power of Hamas,” was published in The Forward, Dec. 2. He argues in part:

“The evidence that he was responsible for directing terrorist acts was overwhelming.... [But] Since being sent to prison, his status has only grown. Today he is the most popular leader in the West Bank and Gaza.... From prison he continues to lead policy; almost all the heads of the Palestinian government and many Israelis make pilgrimages to see him.

“His overwhelming victory in the Fatah primaries — he won 85% of the votes cast in Ramallah — confirms what the public opinion polls have shown in recent years: Marwan Barghouti is the uncontested and most popular leader of the Palestinian Authority.

“...Once Barghouti is free, he will be able to join Abbas and help him to lead the areas under P.A. control. If Israel is interested in a strong Palestinian partner that is capable of administering law and order and of standing up to Hamas, this is Israel's opportunity.

“Barghouti is no saint, and there is every reason to argue that he is responsible, if only indirectly, for the murder of innocent people. However, almost all conflicts similar to ours come to an end when those responsible for instigating the violence sign an agreement.”

Yossi Sarid Retires from Politics

At the age of 65, Meretz MK Yossi Sarid –  the leader of Meretz from 1997 until early 2003 and, with 32 years of service, the most senior Member ofKnesset aside from Shimon Peres – has announced his retirement.  According to Robert Rosenberg’s blog, “Today’s Situation,” posted at <Ariga.com>, “even diehard Likud politicians [say that] he was the best education minister in decades,” during the all-too-brief government of Ehud Barak in 1999-2000.

Like other veteran Meretz Members of Knesset (Ran Cohen and Haim “Jumas” Oron) who have served over eight years, he faced the daunting Meretz requirement of receiving 60 percent of the primary vote to remain on the party list. But most of all he retired because he was sick and tired. He had been literally sick, having been treated for a brain tumor, but he was noticeably not the same in spirit since he resigned from the party leadership following the disastrous election result of February 2003.

Yet his considerable ability as a writer and poet, his acerbic wit and sharp intellect, guarantee that he will remain in the public eye. Yossi Sarid is likely in his way to be as irrepressible as the leader he replaced in 1997, Shulamit Aloni.

WZO Executive Briefs Meretz USA

On Sept. 15, Haim Hayet, head of the University Students/Hagshama Department of the World Zionist Organzation, who had reported on the WZO and the Jewish National Fund at an earlier meeting that day, addressed our executive committee, with the following message:

The upcoming World Zionist Congress is important because it affords us the opportunity to rescue the Zionist movement from being kidnapped by the settlers and the religious right. The direction they are heading in is very different from the social Zionism of the early halutzim (pioneers) and Zionist thinkers, such as described by Theodor Herzl in his prophetic novel, Altneuland.

In order to reground Zionism in its original roots of social justice, it is necessary for us to increase our political power and push for our agenda at the next Congress. Our agenda includes, for example, Moshe Kagan’s proposal of uniting the WZO with the Jewish Agency (JAFI), which would make both organizational sense and also enable us to better pursue our objectives. Funding for Meretz-affiliated youth movements is another item dependent on our relative political strength. In addition, Meretz and its allies are introducing resolutions to shut down the Settlement Division within the WZO (which has been supporting settlement activity), or at least to strictly curtail its scope of operations. Meretz has also been attempting to curb Himnuta, the shady corporation set up by the Settlement Division to purchase Arab land in East Jerusalem for right-wing settlers.

The Reform and Conservative movements are not up to these tasks. Although they often support resolutions that Meretz introduces, anything beyond fighting for budgetary allocations for themselves is clearly nowhere near the top of their agenda. While it is, from our point of view, regrettable that the Reconstructionists are fielding their own slate, we need to discuss with them, as with the Green Party, the possibility of  having them join our coalition.

There is a proposal under consideration to disengage the Jewish National Fund (JNF) from the Israel Lands Authority (ILA), by which the JNF and the State would engage in a land swap, and the JNF would no longer need to oversee and administer residential property rights. This would abolish the conflict between the JNF’s charter (to purchase land for the Jewish people) and its legal obligations to avoid discriminating against Arab citizens. Meretz might object to this proposal on the grounds that: (1) it is a significant step in transforming the JNF from a public non-profit organization into a private company; and (2) it may be a subterfuge to allow the State to expel the Negev Bedouins from the state-owned land upon which many have been living.

Mazal Tov!

Our congrats to IH contributing editor Hillel Schenker for being named co-editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal (PIJ), having succeeded Prof. Danny Bar-Tal in that position. His Palestinian co-editor is one of the two founders of the PIJ, Ziad Abu-Zayyad.

And to his father, Avraham Schenker, who celebrated his 87th birthday on Oct. 16, in Tel Aviv. Avraham was a founding leader of Americans for Progressive Israel (a predecessor of Meretz USA) before making aliya in 1970, a long-time activist for Mapam (a predecessor party of Meretz) and the author who wrote the “Odds & Ends” feature for IH for nearly 30 years, under the pen name of “Abba.”

Also, to Dan Leon, on the occassion of his 80th birthday, recently celebrated at a big family gathering in Jerusalem. Dan was Hillel's predecessor as co-managing editor of the PIJ – and for years before that, Hillel's colleague at New Outlook – as well as a former Mapam shaliakh in North America and in his native UK

          Meretz Favors Cutting Terms of Military Service                                                 

According to a Haaretz news report posted online on Nov. 29: “The Meretz-Yahad party will promote a plan to shorten military service for men to two years and provide funding for every soldier to get a bachelor's degree from a university, as part of its platform for elections to the Knesset.

“Meretz-Yahad will also call for a law permitting exemptions from the Israel Defense Forces on the basis of conscientious objection on religious or moral grounds....”

Meeting with Leader of Young Meretz

On October 10, a gathering at New York’s Beit Shalom headquarters of Meretz USA, met with Uri Zaki, chair of Young Meretz-Yahad. Coincidentally, it was his 31st birthday, and also during his honeymoon. He came to the US as the Meretz representative in a State Department-sponsored program for young political leaders from 50 countries, and took the occasion of his visit to the US to obtain a civil marriage in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Even his quickie Vegas wedding to his fiancee was a political act. Although he is moderately religious and was looking forward to attending Yom Kippur services at a synagogue in Manhattan, his civil ceremony was an act of protest against the fact that Israeli Jews cannot be married outside the jurisdiction of Orthodox rabbis, and that civil and mixed marriages can only be recognized in Israel if performed abroad.

Uri Zaki also spoke of the role of young adults in the Meretz party structure, the struggle to make joining Meretz “cool” again – as it was until 1999 – and the challenge of navigating a progressive Zionist course within a left-wing spectrum characterized by anti-Zionist elements. 

A Visit from Editor of ‘Engage’

On Nov. 7, Meretz USA had a luncheon meeting with David Hirsh, a British sociologist who is editor of a politically progressive Web site dedicated to “fighting left antisemitism,” <engageonline.org.uk>.  This group spearheaded the successful reversal of a resolution by anti-Israel academics to boycott Haifa and Bar-Ilan Universities, but as Prof. Hirsh indicated, the larger battle remains to resist unjust efforts to boycott or otherwise undermine the Jewish state.

Meretz USA vice presidents Arieh Lebowitz and Ralph Seliger have been accepted as Engage “advisory editors.” Meretz USA feels a kinship with Engage as a fellow progressive voice that advocates the legitimate Palestinian rights to statehood and peace alongside a secure Israel.

A Victory on Divestment Front

A renewed effort to divest Somerville, Massachusetts funds from Israel ended in defeat, when pro-divestment forces both failed to collect enough signatures and to follow proper legal procedures. A judge disallowed their petition to place the issue on the November 2005 ballot.

A broad coalition of organizations and citizens (mostly, but not entirely, Jewish) came together to mount a vigorous effort to defeat the divestment campaign. Among the leaders of this opposition was Ken Brociner, an executive board member of Meretz USA. He reports that this particular battle was of singular importance for two critical reasons: Somerville would have been the first US municipality to support divestment, and the Somerville Divestment Project's campaign combined  a far-left effort to deny Israel's right to exist with instances of a blatant appeal to anti-Semitism. 

Martin Ben-Moreh Speaks on Culture Conflict

“Close your eyes and you’ll think you’re hearing Sean Connery,” says Charney Bromberg of Martin Ben-Moreh, the director general of Meitar, the College for Judaism as Culture in Jerusalem. The Scottish-born oleh’s topic at Beit Shalom on November 18: the coming culture conflict in Israel – Orthodox versus secular, Ashkenazim versus Sephardim, Jews versus Arabs, rich versus poor.