Thank you to those who have joined us despite the cold weather. I should say two things as an introduction. I just landed in New York and I haven?t slept, so if I?m not coherent you will understand why. Yesterday was a dramatic day in Knesset ? for two days we had marathon discussions on the new Evacuation-Compensation Law for settlers. We discussed the law on Tuesday morning and voting ended late last night. It is a very long and exhausting law, a few hundred paragraphs worth of legislation. Voting took seven straight hours and I wasn?t sure that I would make it to the plane. I drove directly to the airport from the Knesset.
The best way to describe what is happening in Israel is that every day brings its drama though this isn?t new. We live in paradoxes. On the one hand we have a polarized society where the extreme right is becoming more vocal. What we experience today in Israel is reminiscent of what happened in 1995, when Rabin was assassinated. Some of the ugliness even made it to New York when I was here as Consul General, with similar protests at the consulate. Then the images were of Rabin wearing a Nazi SS suit and comparisons to Hitler. Today you find the very same symbols. Ironically they are against Sharon. The same person who organized some of the incitement against Rabin.
So we have a vocal society, with settlers that are very motivated. They?ve been leading a very emotional campaign with the slogan ?you are tearing us apart.? They are using the Nazi symbolism and listing the names of settlers as if they are Holocaust victims being deported. That extremism is coming more and more to the fore. The pullout isn?t dividing the nation the extremists are.
On the other hand, most Israelis understand what they didn?t understand years ago ? the only solution to the conflict is a two-state solution.
When I was in New York as Consul General nobody was entitled to speak of a Palestinian state. A few of us on the left would talk about it but now it forms the currency. The only questions being asked are how and when.
On the one hand Israelis have become more reasonable and differences between left and right are blurred. Look at the political map today: the Likud is splintering and a part of Labor is not ?Labor.? A large part of the right-wing accepts a Palestinian state, Sharon has spoken of concessions and that the occupation must end; this is the jargon of the left-wing not the right-wing. There is an upheaval taking place in Israeli politics scene; there is a shaky government and a shaky coalition. Sharon has alienated everyone in his own party because of disengagement; a large part of the Likud voted against the disengagement bill.
The new slogan for the opponents is that those who accept the disengagement plan are not on the streets, the only voices you here are those that oppose the disengagement. The settlers raised a tent city around the Knesset in an attempt to interrupt our proceedings.
The Disengagement Law has passed but at the end of March the Budget must be passed for which Sharon doesn?t currently have a majority. Come March 31st, if the Budget fails to pass, we have no government.
Why did Labor decide to go in this government? The first time we joined the coalition, all we could do was put the brakes on Sharon?s actions ? he wanted to oust Arafat and we prevented it. Other than that we left no impact and even lost some mandates. We went from 26 seats to 19 seats in the Knesset by the mere fact that we joined the government. Many would say that it was suicide to join a second time.
You must understand the situation from two angles. After four and a half years of war Sharon and the army had to come to the conclusion that they will not be able to put down the Palestinian uprising by force. The slogan used to be ?let the army win,? and they certainly tried. The whole time we said that negotiations were needed. Four and a half years later, they realized the Intifada will not end unless there are political negotiations. On the other hand, many Palestinians, like Abu Ala and Abu Mazen, understood that the Intifada offered no results and actually took the Palestinians further from their goal of attaining a state.
We thought Sharon was bluffing when he first pronounced a desire to see a Palestinian state at the Herzliya conference. Later on, Shimon Peres understood that Sharon was serious. He started negotiations for Labor to join the government though these repeatedly failed.
The turning point was when we discovered that Sharon was serious ? when part of his coalition started to deteriorate, as a result of decisions that had to be made. When the NRP and National Union left the government, and he let them go, we discovered he really meant it.
We knew that without the Labor Party there would be no pullout. That was when Arafat was still alive and the option of disengagement was unilateral. The idea of disengagement was taken from Labor?s school. We went into elections (under Mitzna) with the slogan ?Gaza first? with or without an agreement. Even if it is not bilateral, let?s get out of Gaza, and that is what Sharon ended up adopting.
Most of us supported the decision to join a Government with Likud for a second time. I hate to say this but, if Sharon falls, nobody else will enact the pullout. From our point of view, leaving Gaza is not the most important thing on earth, but it is a beginning. If you don?t set things in motion, it won?t happen.
For thirty years, people avoided thinking about the settlements. So now disengagement will be traumatic. We lived in a world of blindness, and the settlements grew like a cancer. Today we see just how difficult it is to dismantle even a single illegal outpost. Thousands of soldiers are required and it becomes a show with all the media attention.
There is incitement and calls from the rabbis to disobey evacuation orders. There are already 10,000 signatures of soldiers who will disobey. We have 7,500 Israelis in Gaza; if we can?t do it there we won?t be able to later on.
Though there will be some bloodshed the most important thing we can do now is to get out of Gaza with as little bloodshed as possible. Once the train starts, nothing will stop it, because there will be more demand to continue the pull out by Israelis. A majority of the public understands this.
Up until Arafat died only unilateral disengagement was being considered. The atmosphere changed when Arafat died because Abu Mazen took over in a very orderly fashion and because elections were carried out in exemplary form under difficult circumstances. All this set in motion a different approach that no longer says there is no partner. There is optimism, but it is sober. People think we have a chance. Ehud Olmert surprised me when he said that we have to give the Palestinian leadership a chance because otherwise we won?t forgive ourselves.
Unless the government falls at the end of March, we will go through with the Gaza pullout by November 2005.
The Labor Party was apprehensive about joining this government. We were worried that disengagement wouldn?t be carried out and that we would have a lot to lose. If we want to win elections, we must present an alternative. How can you be a decent alternative if you are in this government?
The economic and social situation in Israel makes this even more difficult. With all due caution, we have never been in such a dramatic situation in Israel. Over 1.5 million live under the poverty line, real poverty. Over 680,000 children live under the poverty line. One out of three children goes to bed hungry every night. When I was a child in Israel, the whole society was poor and we lived with rations, but we were never hungry. But in 1973 we were the most egalitarian society in the world. Today we compete with the US for the biggest social and economic gaps.
As socialists in Israel we believe in a totally different economic structure. We believe in a social safety net and in solidarity. What Benjamin Netanyahu has been doing, without hiding it, is to totally change the economic and social system in Israel. We used to be a social welfare state, and today we are capitalistic at a time when we cannot sustain it. I am not against capitalism but we do not live in US. We have millions of immigrants coming in, and if there are no jobs available no one can work.
In Sderot, where shells are falling, most of the city is unemployed or on social welfare. For Labor to win elections, we must talk to the people about these social and economic issues.
When the country is in a state of war security is the overriding factor. But today, the society in Israel is ready for change. We need social leaders to go into the streets. We need to create jobs and give society its hope and dignity back, then believe me we would be better off. Only soup kitchens are growing steadily in Israel. This did not exist before. As left-wing socialists, as Jews, we cannot stand by while this happens.
The end of the Intifada is in sight ? we are working around the clock to make this government succeed. I never thought I?d say I support Sharon, but I do. I think he is courageous, he is determined. I may not like him or his politics, but he is currently doing the right thing and I don?t know anyone else who would. If we successfully get out of Gaza, it won?t be the end of the story from our point of view. Any continuation of our partnership will be contingent upon commencing with the Road Map and the establishment of Palestinian independence. Thank You.
