[Peace-discuss] (Avigdor) Lieberman to power

[Morton K. Brussel]

You should have suggested someone. Gotheil refused. This article  
seems like a journalistic device for criticizing the hypocrisy of the  
so-called "moderates" and showing up the policies for what they are  
in Israel. One can bring out the same points in our panel debate. Be  
ready!
--mkb

On Oct 22, 2006, at 9:52 AM, David Green wrote:

> 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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