|
The ugly side of Israeli democracy
Gulf News, The Star
19 September 2008
It is not easy to understand the intricate machinations of domestic Israeli politics.
From a distance Israel's democratic machine appears to be working as well as expected in a region where peaceful transfer of power, free press, transparent elections, independent judiciary and public accountability are in short supply.
Haunted by accusations of corruption and the possibility of indictment Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to resign and opened the way for elections of a new leader of the ruling Kadima Party. On Thursday Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni narrowly defeated her rival, Shaul Mofaz, to become her party's new leader and possibly Israel's second female prime minister.
If Olmert fulfils his pledge to resign in the coming few days and Livni's efforts to build a new coalition government succeed, then the 50-year-old mother of two will take over. But hers is an uphill struggle. Lurking in the shadows is Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud, who is pushing for early general elections. His chances of running down Livni and the head of Labor Party, Ehud Barak, are great. Chances are that even if Livni manages to put together a new coalition in the Knesset, she will not be able to rule for long. But such is the nature of Israeli politics.
To construct a coalition she, like many of her predecessors before, will have to appease the smaller parties, which include the religious ultra Orthodox, the secular, the immigrants and the settlers. Each of these parties has a list of demands and the new prime minister will have to play a cumbersome game that involves bribes in the form of monetary allocations, special privileges and political commitments. More often than not those demands contradict each other and if the presumptive prime minister gives in to all of them, then he, or she, will have expropriated most of the powers the job entails.
For instance, Livni would want to keep Labor, with 19 seats, in the governing coalition. But Shas has demanded that the status of Jerusalem be off-limits in the ongoing peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Labor would almost certainly reject such a precondition.
It is not easy to understand the intricate machinations of domestic Israeli politics. But be that as it may, it is also imperative to draw the line between Israel's democratic foundations and its function as an occupying power of Palestinian, and Syrian, territories.
Israel's democracy has always been paraded as a big positive, an important distinction, over the Jewish state's traditional Arab adversaries. Its American allies never cease to remind the world that Israel is in fact an oasis of democracy in an authoritarian desert, as if that abstract quality is enough to justify its illegal occupation of Arab land, its aggression against its neighbors, its violation of international law in its treatment of the Palestinians and its refusal to abide by UN Security Council resolutions.
And when the nascent Palestinian democracy is nipped in the bud by Israel, i.e. by rounding up elected deputies and PNA ministers and undermining the Hamas-led government, Israel's democratic quality is rarely questioned. Israel has become a living proof that democracies, which we are told never wage war against each other, can in fact behave in the most barbaric, and undemocratic, manner against hapless victims.
The Palestinians have been on the receiving end of Israeli democracy. The same can be said of the Lebanese, whose country have been invaded and destroyed by Israel more than once. Israel's democracy works fine internally, although Israeli Arabs who make up 20 percent of the population would beg to differ, but when it comes to its practices and policies; the separation wall, confiscation of land, use of banned weapons, collective punishment, assassinations, invasions and siege, among others, it is nowhere to be found.
Israel's democracy is exclusive, discriminatory, racist and selective. It is geared towards justifying the goals of expansion, illegal land grab, deportations, settlements, violation of human rights, murder and deceit. The world often applauds Israel's democracy, as it holds elections, probes corrupt prime ministers and votes on key decisions, but fails to denounce its actions which contradict its declared democratic nature.
The pundits will follow with enthusiasm Livni's journey as she writes an important chapter in her country's political annals. If she forms the next government she will inherit the challenges that her predecessor, Olmert, had failed to conquer. She will have to decide the fate of the troubled peace process and confront the thorny issues of Jerusalem, land, settlements and the shape of the future Palestinian state. The odds are that she, like Olmert, will not have the political make-up to sign a historic deal with the Palestinians. As chief negotiator in the current government, Livni has not demonstrated the caliber needed to make "painful" concessions.
The dichotomy between the celebrated Israeli democracy, which has catapulted Livni to the forefront of Israeli politics, at least for now, and the dire reality in the occupied territories has never been more pronounced. Israel has been a repulsive colonial power for more than 40 years now and no democratic tradition, no matter how illustrious, can ever wipe the slate clean of its gruesome crimes against the Palestinians.
Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist based in Jordan.
|