Israel

Here in Israel, Ehud Barak and his government have at last taken the wheel from Benjamin Nethanyahu, ending three years that can only be described as a fiasco - lost time, and perhaps lost opportunities in the peace process, an economy in deep trouble.

After running a campaign that hid the peace issue under Barak’s military record and medals and rhetoric about social change, Barak proclaimed in his Knesset speech that there is no security without peace, that the four pillars of the peace process must be Jordan, Egypt, Syria/Lebanon and equally the Palestinians. He invited Israel’s neighbors to all join in a peace of the brave - borrowing the specific phrase from Yasser Arafat. On a practical level, he said explicitly that if he had to chose between pursuing peace and keeping his coalition together he would choose peace.

Barak also appointed Haim Ramon Minister Without Portfolio for Jerusalem and Government Reform. It seems that the correct translation of the first part of Ramon’s title would be "Minister for stopping the building in Ras Al- Amud" as Ramon broadly hinted when interviewed for Israeli Radio. A spokesman for Barak later said that Ramon and Barak had not discussed the issue. Some people might be naive enough to believe that.

In the entire speech, there was not a word about the hospital beds which Barak brought up so often during his campaign. It was also a pleasure to hear Ariel Sharon attacking the government from the opposition benches.

A banner day all in all, though far from perfect. It could be much worse, as we remember from only a few months ago. But it could have been better. We don’t know where the fine rhetoric will lead. Bibi (former Prime Minister Nethanyahu) also spoke about peace when he was sworn in. Those who believed him should have looked at his cabinet and coalition. Barak’s Cabinet is better, but there are bad signs. Ehud Barak has chosen odd ways of fitting people to posts and fulfilling promises, to the dissatisfaction of almost everyone. Yossi Beilin, the Oslo Peace Maker, has been relegated to the Ministry of Justice. Professor Shlomo Ben-Ami is an academic who has many good ideas regarding social justice, and could have been the person to bring Morrocan Jews back to the Labor party. He has been made, of all things, Minister of Public Safety. Shimon Peres, Nobel Prize Laureate and fighter for peace will be Minister for Regional Coordination, a post which may or may not have any real content. Beilin and Peres have been neutralized in meaningless posts where they can do nothing about the peace process.

In a government with so many religious parties, it is natural that there will be Rabbi ministers. A Rabbi in the Ministry of Religion (what normal country has such a Ministry?) is one thing. A Rabbi heading the Ministry of Health is quite another! The new Minister of Health, Shas party MK Rabbi Ben-Izri, isn’t even a miracle working healer rabbi. But it could be worse. Remember that we almost had a Shas rabbi as Minister of Finance.

Yossi Sarid of Meretz will be Ministry of Education. The good news may be a break for education for peace and democratic values. The bad news is that as Minister of Environmental Quality in the Rabin and Peres governments, Sarid was very outspoken on peace issues, but didn’t get much done to control pollution, move garbage dumps etc. Haim Ramon is best known for his reform of the health system. He did the impossible in that case. He proved that it is possible to create a much worse system than the one we had, confounding all the experts. Now he will have a special job reforming the entire government. It could be worse - and it may yet be worse.

Women complain that of 32 ministers and assistant ministers, only one is a women. Arabs complain that they have no representation at all in the present government. It seems neither group is qualified. It is a government of generals and rabbis, and there aren’t many women or Arab generals or rabbis. From Barak’s viewpoint it is therefore perfectly logical.

One Israel party members finally rebelled against some of Barak's strangest caprices when he tried to appoint Shalom Simchon, a practically unknown and relatively young backbench Knesset member, to the prestigious post of Chairman of the Knesset, usually reserved for senior parliamentarians. Instead, the One Israel Party Central Committee chose Avrum Burg, a popular pro-peace religious member of the former Labor party, son of a moderate former NRP leader and elder statesman.

Israelis should remember that it was worse, and it could have been worse. We are commanded to "be joyous in your holidays." Compared to what went before, this new government is a big improvement, an improvement that can be credited in part to the Israeli peace lobby and Israeli Arabs who fought the Likud government before and during the elections. All of those who fought for change can pause to be happy, though it remains to be seen who will harvest the fruits of victory.

A different opinion is presented below. Other comments are invited.

Ami Isseroff

Rehovoth, Israel

Raphael Rechitzky

Canada

After a long (too long in my opinion) time, Israel finally has a government. Not surprisingly, it also has the same old fashioned type government, which, in common with the previous ones, is a government that does not care about the people, with a Prime Minister who only cares about his seat and publicity. This is not the government Israelis need and it shows again that Israel needs a new leadership, the type that will start taking care of the little person on the street, the type that will look after important issues such as housing, including tenant protection, the young people and the elderly, many of which live under the poverty line. Israel needs a government that will operate under a very strict and high Code of Ethics. Israel needs the type of government it does not have, and that will not be found in the Parliament, because all of them only care about their positions and publicity.

The new Prime Minister has not had a chance to do anything productive as yet, but he is already traveling to the U.S later this month. Should not he work for a while and prove he can do something more productive than putting Bibi down? Bibi is gone but that does not mean any good news to Israelis. If he is replaced by another egotist, one who cares for himself and becoming important and not the people, Israelis are in for another very disappointing experience. I am not even sure he has the brain that Bibi has.

Israeli politicians are dirty and do not take into account the needs of the country and the people. This election, as the previous ones, proved that being a member of parliament is a good money rewarding job. It also proved that if a Government does not operate under a very strict Code of Ethics, it will quickly move away from all the nice slogans and promises and forget all its promises.

Both the Likud and Labor are corrupted movements that most Israelis in my opinion resent. Israelis vote for what they have and in most cases they choose the best from the worst, not knowing that they are both the same.

I would like to go back to the 1976 elections that brought Menahem Begin’s Likud Party to power. I do remember that year very well, since I was heavily involved in it myself. That election is probably the most important one in Israel's history, since it showed that people were in fact unhappy with both parties and the old system. All analysts seem to miss that important point. If you remember, Israelis voted in huge numbers for a then new movement: Dash (Democratic Change Party), which, failing to have a high Code of Ethics, failed badly later. Israelis gave politicians a message: 'We don't like the old movements, we want something new, a leadership that we can trust and depend on, one that will take care of the little person on the street'. If one tries to analyze all the following elections, one has to conclude that Israelis paid and continue to pay a very heavy price for a corrupted system of favoritism, a system that the Labor created 50 years ago and now highly used by all parties.

The Shas ultra-orthodox party is another example of people who are confused and unhappy and so vote for something they feel they can identify with. Those who were unhappy with the system and felt that no-one represented them, Sephardic groups in this case, felt they could identify with this group. By supporting Shas, they created an abnormal party that is supposed to be ultra orthodox, but which is supported by many who are not orthodox, but can identify themselves with the Sephardic movement.

Two small examples of how much Israeli politicians are dishonest and self centered are:

1. The main parties never agreed to get together and change the election system, so the fanatics and the interest groups could not get the power they have. They all thought: "Well, one day we may need them, so lets keep them in".

2. They all agreed not to let Israelis abroad vote, because they were scared of the power that group could have.

This is a very broad subject, but I would like to conclude by predicting, sadly that that Barak will fail to improve the quality of life for the little Israeli. He will fail to make the little Israeli who voted him in a top priority. Thus, the Israelis will again become victims of a corrupt system that needs to be changed, an old fashioned system that needs to be removed from the Israeli political scene.

Link - :Len and Libby Traubman have compiled their messages regarding Israeli/Palestinian cooperative projects at           http://www.igc.org/traubman/messages.htm

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