The Gladiators
By Uri Avnery
02 October, 2005
Gush
Shalom
The
contest between Binyamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon in the Likud Central
Committee resembled a duel between two gladiators in the Roman arena.
The more so since many of the Committee members behaved like the Roman
rabble who screamed, rioted and demanded blood.
In this fight, Netanyahu
resembled the Retiarius, a gladiator who had nothing on but a short
tunic and who sought to entangle his opponent with a cast-net held in
his right hand and, if successful, to dispatch him with the trident
that he carried in his left. Sharon was like the Secutor, who wore armor
and carried a sword. The former had the advantage of mobility and agility,
the other moved clumsily but was well protected.
Many heaved a sigh
of relief when Netanyahu was defeated at the last minute, contrary to
expectations and polls. Since Netanyahu had positioned himself on the
extreme right, supporting the settlers and opposing any withdrawal,
he made Sharon look like the Man of Peace. But that is, of course, an
illusion. The difference between the two, if there is one at all, is
negligible. If Netanyahu were Prime Minister, he would behave exactly
like Sharon, and in opposition Sharon would behave exactly like Netanyahu.
Sharon is now making
both peace-loving and war-like declarations - depending on the audience
he is addressing. Before the UN General Assembly and the Americans he
sings hymns to peace, but he vows to the Likud that he will not give
up another inch. All these declarations are not worth a garlic peeling,
to use a Hebrew expression. One should not believe a word he says, only
his actions count. In the meantime he builds the Separation Fence, enlarges
the settlements, initiates provocations, bombs and arrests.
On the face of it,
therefore, nothing that has happened in the Likud Central Committee
has any impact on the chances of peace. Just a duel between two gladiators
in the arena, much ado about nothing. But that is an optical illusion.
In fact, peace has
won a great victory in the Likud arena.
This has nothing
to do with the personality or intentions of Sharon, but everything with
the substance of the decision.
In theory, no ideological
matter was at stake. The committee members were voting, officially,
only on a technical point: whether to hold the primaries for Party Chairman
early, next month, or at their scheduled time, in half a year. Big deal.
But what was really
at issue was whether to throw Sharon out, because he has uprooted the
settlements and withdrawn from the Gaza Strip. The attacks on him were
focused on this point. His opponents claimed that he had betrayed the
Likud principles, that the Likud opposes the ceding of any part of the
"fatherland" to the "Arab enemy", that the evacuation
of any settlement is a crime. That's what the battle was all about.
The decision was
therefore of historic importance. The Likud is the present incarnation
of the Revisionist Party, which was founded some 80 years ago under
the slogan "The Jordan has two banks - one belongs to us and the
other one too." Its very name reflects this claim. The founder,
Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky wanted to annul the 1920 decision of the
British government to separate Transjordan (the present Kingdom of Jordan)
from Palestine. That was the "revision" he strove to attain.
Even when the party,
in its successive incarnations, in practice gave up the claim on Transjordan,
it insisted vigorously on "The Whole of Eretz-Israel" between
the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. In order to achieve this, it
promoted the settlements in all the occupied territories, denied the
very existence of the Palestinian people and obstructed every step that
could have led towards peace.
And now, on Monday,
September 26, 2005, the Central Committee of this party has voted for
a leader who evacuated and destroyed 25 settlements, has used the Israel
Defense Forces to "drive out Jews" and has officially given
up a part of Eretz Israel. From this day on, the Likud is not what it
used to be.
Some people make
light of this victory because of the tiny margin - 52% against 48%.
But that is not important. The astounding thing is that any committee
members at all voted for the man who did this.
It is being said
that this decision was not ideological, but jobological. The committee
members voted against their convictions in order keep the Likud in power
and save their government jobs. The polls have shown that the Likud
would lose the elections if Sharon were thrown out. The head overcame
the heart, the greed for power was stronger than the ideology.
If that is true,
the victory is even more important. The 3060 members of the Likud Central
Committee come from all parts of Israel. They come from all social strata,
not just from the "elites". They sense the mood of the general
public. If they have arrived at the conclusion that loyalty to the settlements
and Greater Israel will lose them the elections, this has far-reaching
significance.
I wrote recently
that "the center has held". Now it is also clear that the
right wing has remained loyal to Sharon. His opponents, the Loyalists
of Greater Israel, are in a state of collapse. After their rout in the
Central Committee, they are foundering among the 100,000 party members.
Polls show that a large majority of these now support Sharon. The Likud
ministers and Knesset members behave like soldiers of a defeated army
after the cry "sauve qui peut" is sounded.
That is not the
end of it. On the contrary, we are facing a hard year. Sharon will try
to freeze everything, except the building of the Fence and the enlarging
of the settlements. The pretext will be the need to wait for the results
of the Palestinian elections, in January 2006, in order to know "with
whom we are dealing". After that, the Israeli election will take
place, probably in November 2006, and "nobody can expect Sharon
to take unpopular steps before elections". President Bush, who
is also a political animal, will surely understand that. The prolonged
freeze may cause new disasters.
In spite of this,
the long march towards peace has taken another step. A small step, but
an important one.
And that in the
Likud Central Committee, of all places. Who would have believed it.