From the Editor

Israel's "Center" Party

In January's Outpost, we noted that the notion of a "center" party (at that point the party was unnamed, but has now actually called itself the Centrist Party) was absurd. Given the absence of any real differences in the policies of the Likud and Labor, there was no space for a "center" between them. The party was simply a collection of prima donnas (with opposing ideas) who saw the party as a way of settling scores and/or securing a better position. The Centrist Party came to the same conclusion, and determined, for as long as possible, to avoid taking any positions whatever, handing out "stickers" in lieu of campaign literature.

At the end of March, it finally produced a platform. The section on peace with the Palestinians talks of "territorial compromise" and says "there will be no return to the 1967 lines." As Aaron Lerner of IMRA (Independent Media Review and Analysis) points out, in contrast to this, the section on Syria says that a treaty will set "the border between the two states." There is no mention of territorial compromise nor is a return to the 1967 lines ruled out. That means the Center Party intends to withdraw from the entire Golan. Nor is there any mention of the Jordan Valley settlements, which past Labor Party platforms promised would remain under Israeli sovereignty. The Centrist Party platform merely says that no Arab army will cross the Jordan. As Lerner points out, what stops them from crossing it remains unclear. As for Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, the new party says it will "strive for settlement blocs under Israeli sovereignty." Strive, not demand or insist. Says Lerner: "From my reading of the platform, a vote for the Centrist Party is a mandate for withdrawing from all the settlements."

Looks like the Centrist Party is not positioned ideologically between Labor and the Likud, but teeters somewhere between Meretz and Hadash.

Professor Said in Gaza

Edward Said is one of this country's most celebrated professors of English, long at Columbia University, now at the yet more lofty Harvard University. More impressive still, Said is newly-elected president of the Modern Language Association, the professional association representing college and university teachers of literature and languages. The following are a few quotes (thanks to MEMRI, the Middle East Media and Research Institute) from the great man speaking at a symposium in Gaza:

"The American policy tries to annihilate nations that do not follow America's ideology...American history [and] society is based on the annihilation of nations."

"The U.S. killed about three million Vietnamese in addition to what happened in the Philippines, and Indonesia, and the dropping of the only atomic bomb in the world on Japan, in order to annihilate a people in its entirety. I fear that the war the U.S. launches against Iraq will lead to the termination of this state and the annihilation of the Iraqi society in an unprecedented manner..."

"American universities in Arab countries do not focus on this history, in order to prevent the Arab world from realizing the U.S.'s barbarism and its way of controlling and occupying many countries..."

Given the intellectual collapse in this country's universities, and the especially parlous condition of English departments, perhaps Professor Said's puerile babble makes him a fitting representative of today's academic elite.

Israeli Arabs: An Electoral Update

The plan for coordinating platforms between the Arab Hadash Party and Meretz, which we outlined in January's Outpost, is off. Hadash has rejected it on the grounds that Meretz is a "Zionist" party. That is laughable, but in any event Meretz does not currently meet Hadash's strict anti-Zionist standards. Azmi Bishara, Hadash's leader, announced on March 25 that the Jewish nation is a "fiction with no right to exist."

Bishara has announced that he will run for Prime Minister, the first Arab to do so. He declares his candidacy will have an important political role to play on behalf of the Israeli Arab public. It certainly has the potential to deal a significant blow to Ehud Barak's candidacy since, if he in fact runs, Bishara is likely to siphon off large numbers of Arab votes that would otherwise go to the Labor candidate.

Outpost               - 2 -               April 1999