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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, AUGUST 3, 1984
ON THE WORLD SCENE
ISRAEL'S ELECTION--BEHIND THE DEADLOCK,
AN ALARMING TURN TO THE RADICAL RIGHT
On Monday, July 23, Israelis went to the polls. The country, wracked by
400% inflation and the continued morale-sapping occupation of southern
Lebanon, desperately needed a strong government. Furthermore, it looked as
though the dominant Likud bloc in the ruling coalition, after seven years
in power, would not be able to surmount the country's crises. Even former
Prime Minister Menachem Begin, in virtual seclusion, could or would not
lend active support to his party's cause.
The results of the election proved to be
a
mild surprise to Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir--and
a
grave disappointment to Labor Party leader Shimon
Peres. The Labor Party, which had hoped to win as many as 55 of the needed
61 seats {in the 120-seat Knesset) ended up with only 44, actually down
three seats from the outgoing parliament. Likud lost seven seats, dropping
to 41 seats. The Labor Party and the Likud bloc
are
thus stalemated, but
since the Likud is closer ideologically to most of the 13 splinter parties,
it stands a better chance of once again forming a government.
There are reports that Labor and Likud might combine to form a "grand coali
tion," with Shamir and Peres somehow alternating as prime minister. But
such a post would likely not last long, as the two parties are 180 degrees
apart on the fundamental question of what to do with the West Bank. Labor
is willing to trade more land for peace and a hoped-for agreement with Jor
dan's King Hussein.
Likud, viewing the area as part of "eretz Israel,"
pushes for greater Jewish settlement, eventually leading (though this is
not said officially) to annexation.
Most significantly, the Israeli election confirmed the nation's continued
shift to a more ultra-nationalist position, especially with respect toward
dealing with the Arab world. This was reflected dramatically when Meir
Kahane, an American-born militant rabbi, was elected to office for the
first time. The extremist Kahane wants all Arabs--even long-time Israeli
Arab citizens--sent packing from both Israel proper and the West Bank (and
the Gaza Strip too) , and he has also said, with regard to the Arab
controlled Temple Mount: "I want the Arabs off that mountain."
Here, first, is an analysis of Israel's election as received over our ASSO
CIATED PRESS news wire, July 28:
The results of Israel's election point to a clear victory for
rightist nationalism over the old political order•••• Labor sup
porters see the July 23 election as climaxing� seven-year shift
to the right, which is expected to continue for simple demo
graphTc reasons: The Likud constituency is mainly Sephardi � , or
Middle Eastern Jewish, and the Sephardim, who have a higher
birthrate, make up 55 percent of Israel's 3.5 million Jews.
For the moderately leftist, college-educated Israelis who are
Labor's main constituency, the election was a catastrophe, in
which an unabashed Arab-baiter like Rabbi
Meir
Kahane got over
23,000 votes and was elected to Parliament.