Excerpts from a political report submitted to the Organization for Democratic Action, September 2006 Introduction The ramifications of Israel’s second Lebanon War should be gauged against the background of the dramatic events that the region has undergone in the last…
Article Author: Ben Efrat, Yacov
The War No One Wanted
Ben Efrat is the General Secretary of the Organization for Democratic Action. He delivered this lecture on July 26, 2006, fifteen days into the war, at Bamat Etgar in Tel Aviv. THIS WAR DOES not yet have a name. I…
Bush’s Lost War
EARLY IN JUNE 2006, militias belonging to the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took over Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The city’s fall was a blow to Washington. The Bush Administration had thrown its support behind a group of warlords,…
Workers’ Party: Assessing the Campaign
THE number of votes that a party receives is an open book, enabling it to know how much weight it really has with the public. This point is especially important for one that takes itself seriously as an alternative to…
A Misguided Consensus
ARIEL Sharon’s decision to disengage from Gaza changed Israel’s political map. Many of his fellow Likudniks rose against him, including ministers and Knesset members. The revolt provoked him to establish on November 20, 2005 a new party called Kadima (Forward). As a…
In the Footsteps of Sharon
IN departing from power, Ariel Sharon leaves behind a new Israeli consensus and a new centrist political party, Kadima (Forward), which will continue to engage the public trust even without him. If his political heir, Ehud Olmert, avoids making grave…
Imposing Democracy, Reaping Chaos
THE New Middle East was the title of a book by Shimon Peres, today Deputy Prime Minister to Ariel Sharon. And now we have the “democratic Middle East,” ballyhooed by none other than US President George W. Bush. Each of…
Hurricane Gaza
AS A UNILATERAL ACT, Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip raises basic questions for both sides in the conflict. For Israel, there is the question of how to define its deed: “Should we declare that the occupation of Gaza is…
The Democracy Scam
ON her recent visit to the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not pass Egypt by. At the American University in Cairo on June 20, 2005, she talked about America’s struggle for democracy in the region. She…
Hamas: Present Absentee
The Summit at Sharm al-Sheikh FOUR MIDDLE EASTERN leaders assembled on February 8, 2005 at Sharm al-Sheikh: Ariel Sharon of Israel, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah of Jordan, and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the new President of the Palestinian…