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Issue 95, January/February 2006

United in Delusion

The year 2006 is bringing change. In Israeli and Palestinian societies, we see the fruition of processes resulting from the second Intifada.

In Israel, PM Ariel Sharon made a clean split from the Likud. He created a party called Kadima, which represents a Misguided Consensus: the notion that peace can be advanced by unilateral separation from the Palestinians. In January he was sidelined by a massive stroke. Many Kadima members, former leaders in the Labor Party and the Likud, have vowed to follow In the Footsteps of Sharon.

The Labor Party has also had its ministorm. Amir Peretz, preaching Capitalism in Pink, defeated Shimon Peres, who then led his followers to Kadima. Peretz won not by the strength of his message, rather by the weakness of his opponent. He waves the social banner, but few line up behind.

ODA, for its part, is Launching a fourth consecutive Election Campaign. Its list, for the first time, includes workers who gained their jobs through WAC. At the campaign kick-off in Tel Aviv, Yacov Ben Efrat, the party’s General Secretary, called for: No More “Make-Believe,” No More “Hide-and-Seek,” in Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.

On the other side of the fence, a conflict within Fatah threatened to delay or even abolish the parliamentary elections scheduled for January 25. After much arm wrestling, the Younger Generation prevailed over the old-timers. The Rise of these youngsters is Ominous, we point out, for the Palestinian Diaspora.

Elections aside, it has been a poor year for olives all over the world, but in the West Bank the troubles have been compounded by the Mutilation of the Olive Trees. We describe the damage and who is behind it.

And we bring you, finally, a research paper by Meir Margalit on settler organizations that are doing all they can to Prevent the Peace of Jerusalem.