Mitzna's not the man

National Post ^ | January 27 2003

[knighthawk]

When Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister in 2001, he established a unity government that brought Israel's two traditionally dominant parties -- Labour and Likud -- into a coalition. That coalition broke down last year during a budget dispute, and Mr. Sharon called early elections, which will take place tomorrow. Mr. Sharon has done a good job of steering Israel through difficult times, and has orchestrated an effective counterattack against one of the most vicious terrorist campaigns the world has ever witnessed. He deserves to be re-elected.

Israeli politics are usually full of scandal and venom, and this contest has been no exception. Mr. Sharon's Likud has been embroiled in an internal vote-buying scandal. Arab candidates were barred by election officials -- and then reinstated by the Supreme Court. There have also been allegations that Likud received illegal contributions from foreign sources. On Jan. 9, Mr. Sharon went on television to give his side of the story. But his speech lapsed into an attack on his main challenger -- Labour Party leader Amram Mitzna. The tirade came to an abrupt end when the head of the Central Elections Committee decided the rhetoric constituted "electoral propaganda" and pulled the plug. Imagine the grisly fate that would await any bureaucrat who inflicted a similar indignity on an Arab leader. Israel may face dire threats, but its democratic institutions remain highly functional.

Israel's parliament, the Knesset, is elected through proportional representation, which allows small parties to gain a foothold. In the upcoming election, 29 parties are qualified to run candidates, including the Men's Rights in the Family Party, which finds support among taxi drivers, and Green Leaf, Israel's equivalent to our Marijuana Party. Another party, Shinui ("Change"), is expected to double or triple its current seven-seat allotment on the strength of an anti-religious, anti-corruption agenda.

Early polls showed that Likud would rout Labour. But scandals have thrown this outcome into doubt. A former general turned municipal politician, Mr. Mitzna has also played on Israeli frustration with the intifada. While Mr. Sharon refuses to make any concessions to the Palestinians until terrorism comes to a halt, Mr. Mitzna has pledged to unilaterally withdraw Israeli forces from the Gaza strip and, if negotiations fail, from much of the West Bank as well.

These promises are worrying -- particularly as regards Gaza. There is no doubt Israel will eventually have to withdraw from that wretched sliver of land: A few thousand Jewish settlers control a fifth of Gaza while a million Palestinians make do with the rest. But withdrawing without concluding a comprehensive peace deal will be perceived, among Arabs, as a reward for terrorism. In fact, such a move would repeat the mistake made when Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000. Israelis hoped their enemies would interpret the retreat as an olive branch. Instead, Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups took it as a gesture of weakness. It is no coincidence that the current terrorism plague commenced a few months later.

A unilateral withdrawal from Gaza would squander one of Mr. Sharon's major accomplishments -- a change in Palestinians' attitudes toward terrorism. Polls show that an ever-larger section of the Palestinian population has come to realize that suicide bombings do nothing to advance their quest for a state. In November, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research reported that 76% of Palestinians support the idea of a mutual ceasefire with Israel; last August, it was just 48%.

This shift is largely thanks to Mr. Sharon's policy of responding forcefully whenever Arab terrorists kill Israelis. He realizes that the terrorists' psychological dynamo is the conceit that the Jewish state can be destroyed by a wave of "martyrs." Accordingly, he has smashed that delusion, hunting down militants, infiltrating terror cells and destroying bomb factories. Notwithstanding the West's taste for instant solutions, Mr. Sharon realizes that peace will take many years, and has sensibly pledged that his soldiers will evacuate the West Bank and Gaza only as part of a negotiated settlement that safeguards Israeli security. This, not Mr. Mitzna's proposal to reward murder, is the right policy, and Mr. Sharon should be given another term to advance it.

[knighthawk]

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