Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Is it not remarkable that Zionists and Zionist organizations in Israel and abroad do not question, on INSTITUTIONAL grounds, the propriety of Shimon Peres offering Yasser Aafat or his deputy Abu Ala a Palestinian State Now (or ever for that matter)?
Before enlarging on this subject it should be borne in mind that the Peres-Abu Plan would return Israel back to the 1967 borders! It would therefore place in question, if not terminate, the Jewish presence in such Jerusalem neighborhoods as Gilo, Ramot, French Hill, Pizgat Ze’ev, Neveh Ya’acov, and East Talpiot. The status of the hundreds of thousands of Jews in these areas would be placed in jeopardy.
That a foreign minister, without cabinet approval, could make such an offer is simply unheard of in the democratic world! Yet no one critically analyzes the political SYSTEM that makes such a thing possible. Instead, our nationalists denounce Mr. Peres and expatiate on the mortal dangers of a Palestinian state. True, Moshe Feiglin—all honor to him—has influenced the Likud Central Committee to call upon Prime Minister Sharon to defend his approval of a Palestinian state, if only because his approval violates the Likud constitution.
But surely he and Zionist organizations in general should loudly complain: “It is high-handed, irresponsible, and undemocratic for any minister of the government to take it upon himself to publicly propose a Palestinian state. Indeed, that Israel’s government tolerates such a thing is sufficient proof that Israel’s entire political SYSTEM is need of drastic reform.”
We look in vain for nationalists to complain, in a systematic and sustained way, that Israel lacks one of the most important principles of good government, namely, a system of checks and balances. Why don’t nationalists inform the public by asking, “Why doesn’t the Knesset pass a resolution denouncing the government for tolerating Mr. Peres’ unconscionable behavior?” Of course, Israel is now burdened by a national unity government, which makes the Knesset all the more impotent. But who asks: “What is there about Israel’s political SYSTEM that makes the Knesset impotent vis-a-vis the government?” “On the other hand, what is there about Israel’s political SYSTEM that makes this government so inept?”
But now let us go to the USA. There Zionist organizations demonstrate, lobby, and place full-page ads denouncing a Palestinian state. Yet none ever questions the SYSTEM that has brought Israel to its present plight. Of course, these organizations will defend their silence about the SYSTEM by saying it’s not for Americans to question Israel’s form of government. Even if this were true, couldn’t these Zionist organizations occasionally say something like this: “There are political scientists in Israel who claim that Israel’s political system is largely responsible for the country’s plight, that Oslo would never have taken place were it not for Israel’s bizarre parliamentary electoral system, a system that enables governments to ignore public opinion with impunity.”
These Zionists organizations could then mention Israel’s lack of regional elections, its system of fixed party lists, its low electoral threshold—all the while quoting political scientists in Israel who have shown how these institutional defects produced Oslo or at least prevent Israel’s government from pursuing a coherent and resolute Zionist policy. They might even recall that Oslo would never have been implemented were it not for a Mitzubishi: enough to induce one Knesset member to betray his party and cast his vote for Oslo!
Might not Zionist organizations say, perhaps with tongue-in-cheek: “Strange that Israel should now have, in effect, a Labor government when Likud leader Ariel Sharon defeated Labor leader Ehud Barak in last year’s election, and did so by a landslide victory! What is there about Israel political SYSTEM that makes this possible?”
Or this: “Strange that Shimon Peres, rejected by the public in a national election, rejected by the Knesset in a presidential election, and rejected by his own party is not only Israel’s foreign minister but leading the Jewish state along the deadly path of Oslo, which was rejected by an overwhelming majority of the electorate. What is there about Israel’s SYSTEM of government that makes this possible?”
What prevents these Zionist organizations from devoting 10% of their resources and energies to revealing, at least indirectly, the truth about Israel’s grotesque political SYSTEM? What prevents Zionist organizations in Israel from denouncing Israel’s political SYSTEM as a major cause of Israel’s decline? Is it ignorance? Not at all, for the present writer, who is well known to these Zionist organizations, has demonstrated, in countless articles, that regardless of which party or prime minister is in power, the SYSTEM undermines the formulation and pursuit of Zionist national policies.
Not only the decadence of this or that party, not only the weaknesses of this or that prime minister—and not only American pressure—but the SYSTEM, the SYSTEM is destroying Israel.
Is anyone listening?