[Peace-discuss] (Avigdor) Lieberman to power

[David Green]

In the same vein, I would have preferred for more
authentic and less diplomatic supporters of Israel to
be represented on the Thursday panel.

DG

Lieberman to power 

By Gideon Levy 


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/774651.html 
October 17, 2006

Peace-seekers should support the move to bring Avigdor
Lieberman into the government. It is impossible to
understand the opposition of several Labor party
ministers to having Yisrael Beitenu join the
government after all, just what precisely are they
afraid will happen? That Israel will embark on an
unnecessary war? That the settlement enterprise will
be reinforced? That the government will reject Syria's
peace proposal? That racism toward Arab citizens of
Israel will increase, or that the occupation army will
be cruel to the Palestinians?

Indeed, the government in its current constellation is
already providing all of this, abundantly, and
Lieberman's participation would only remove its
camouflage. An extreme right-wing government with
Lieberman and without camouflage is preferable to a
government without Lieberman that masquerades as
center-left. As with the ridiculous struggle against
the "illegal" outposts, which in effect legitimizes
all of the other "legal" settlements, the struggle
against bringing Lieberman into the government is also
designed solely to accord a semblance of enlightenment
to an extreme right-wing government and to legitimize
Labor's participation in it. The opposition of Amir
Peretz and some of his colleagues to Lieberman's
joining the government is thus tainted with
self-righteousness: They are already today members of
a government that embarked on a worthless war, that
says no to Syria, that is cruel to the Palestinians
and fortifies the settlements.

Lieberman says what many people think. His racism and
extreme nationalism are already out of the closet,
while among many others, those qualities are still
concealed deep within, even though they operate
according to their spirit. They have no moral
advantage over Lieberman. An openly racist and extreme
nationalist is preferable to a closet racist and
extreme nationalist.

Lieberman also has an well-thought-out plan for the
future, as opposed to Ehud Olmert, Benjamin Netanyahu
or Shimon Peres, of whom no one (including they
themselves, apparently) has a clue about what they
want to do tomorrow morning. Lieberman might sound
extremist to innocent ears or to those feigning
innocence, but on many issues he is saying precisely
what Israel is doing.

Back in 2001, Lieberman, as minister of national
infrastructure, publicized his canton plan. He
suggested then the division of the West Bank into four
cantons, without a central Palestinian government or
possibility of traveling between them. This is
precisely what Israel is doing in practice, crushing
the fabric of life in the territories through a cruel
physical separation between each region. Even without
Lieberman, a resident of Nablus who wants to visit his
son in Hebron encounters almost impenetrable obstacles
and of visiting his son in Gaza, he can only dream.
When Lieberman put forward his proposal, there were
those who became enraged; when the IDF implements
these things, almost no one says a word. Could it be
that a Lieberman who speaks the truth is better than
an Olmert government that misleads?

Lieberman also explains how to reach a "military
decision" vis-a-vis the Palestinians: "Within 48
hours, we can enter all of the command posts, all of
the tunnels, all of the weapons depots, and then we
can proceed to the cantons plan," he told Haaretz in
2001. And what has Israel tried to do since then,
albeit without success? Liquidate, kill, destroy -
precisely according to the spirit of Lieberman's
hallucinatory "military decision."

Bringing Lieberman into the government would also
remove its mask in relation to the world. After the
prime minister's retreat from his convergence idea, he
has nothing left to suggest on the
political-diplomatic front anyway. Lieberman will show
the Palestinians, the Arab states and the rest of the
world the direction in which the current government is
really headed. The world and the Arabs will understand
very clearly that an extreme nationalist government is
in power in Jerusalem, and that it is not looking for
peace.

A survey published on Friday in Yedioth Ahronoth
predicted 20 Knesset seats going to Yisrael Beitenu.
(The survey showed only the Likud receiving more
seats.) The survey also reveals the true face of
public opinion in Israel: more right-wing and
extremist than ever before. It is also best that we
know this. What a long road we have traveled from the
time Meir Kahane was ostracized in the Knesset by most
of its factions, to the point where Avigdor Lieberman
has become a legitimate candidate for a "security
minister." 

In the next elections, Lieberman will no longer be
considered a leader of a marginal group. Perhaps he
will even become prime minister one day. It is logical
to think that an extreme right-wing government headed
by Lieberman would precipitate an international
boycott of Israel, just like the one imposed on the
Hamas government. Perhaps this type of frightening
extremism would stir the world to finally intervene
with determination to bring this long and dangerous
conflict to an end.

It is not difficult to guess how Israel would react if
a person like Lieberman were to join one of the
governments in Europe. When the racist Joerg Haider
joined the Austrian government in February 2000,
Israel recalled its ambassador and cut off all contact
with representatives of the Austrian government. But
what is forbidden to Austria is permitted to us, and
the world has not blinked so far.

It is understandable and correct that the natural
instinct of peace-seekers in Israel is to fiercely
oppose a person who calls for the transfer of entire
communities; for the moving of their residents without
their consent, to a different sovereignty, simply
because of their national origin; for the explusion of
any citizen who is not "loyal" to the state; a man who
aspires to a state "clean" of Arabs, and who only
recognizes the language of force. The appointment of a
minister with a fascist worldview entails severe
educational and social damage. The fact that Lieberman
substantially influences the views of about a million
immigrants from the former Soviet Union is also bad
news for Israeli society. And despite all this,
Lieberman, the declared racist, is preferable to the
self-righteous and hypocritical ones who may speak of
peace but wage war. Lieberman to power? He has already
been there a long time.



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