Prince Charles Netanyahu
Netanyahu can only lose politically with opposition to pullout
Several eyebrows were raised in the room. On the surface, this argument seems unlikely. But Netanyahu says he has a survey that proves it.
I have one too. The Anti-Defamation League conducted an extensive telephone between June 19 and June 23 in the United States. The results of the survey, which was administrated by the Martilla Communications Group, will be published next week.
Question 27 in the poll states the following: “Israel decided lately to evacuate its communities in the Gaza Strip unilaterally, without reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Which of the following statements do you agree with most:
1. Israel’s decision means surrendering to terror.
2. Israel’s decision is a brave step that will promote the peace process.
Seventy-one percent of the respondents chose option 2. Only 12 percent picked the first option. The poll showed the support for the pullout is far-reaching and satisfies all the shades of the proverbial American rainbow – Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals, Catholics and Protestants, Whites, Blacks and Hispanics.
The support is especially high among those who consider themselves to be supporters of Israel – 79 percent fit this category.
Unfortunately, I was unable to collect alternative findings from Netanyahu at press time.
'Price against Price'
These figures may not stand beside Netanyahu this time, but to his credit, he put his finger on the right point. The withdrawal is reached a stage where arguments over it are no longer solely internal inside Israel.
The question is not only pinning ‘Orange against Blue,’ ‘Pro-pullout' against 'Anti-pullout’ but rather ‘Price’ against ‘Price’: The price of carrying out the pullout as opposed to the price that would be paid should it be delayed or cancelled.
What would its cancellation do to the continuous security and relative calm with the Palestinians? What would it do to Israel’s relations with the American government, with Europe and with Egypt and Jordan? What would it do to U.S. public opinion, or the economy?
Cabinet ministers Yisrael Katz, Danny Naveh and Netanyahu, who voted in favor of delaying the withdrawal, strive for greatness – relative to each persona’s subjective concept of his own greatness. Before they voted for the postponement, they had to ask themselves the following question: If I were prime minister today, could I cancel the pullout, and am I willing to carry the responsibility for the consequences of this decision on my shoulders?
We don’t know what Katz and Naveh would answer themselves – they have not yet reached the center of a national ruling. But Netanyahu has been there.
As Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert so viciously reminded him, Netanyahu was demanded during Israel’s 1996 election night, when he was a candidate, to announce if he would carry out the Oslo peace accords or oppose them vehemently, or cancel the. He picked Oslo. It was only a tactic to try and win the ballot, not to save the nation.
A successor’s life is tough. Like Britain’s Prince Charles, like Jordan’s King Hussein, Netanyahu has only to lose.
Taking flight
He is demanded to take flight, to make an historic mark on the economy, to dictate political moves, to strengthen the power of the right while grooming a pragmatic, responsible image for himself in the center, to covet the prime minister without portraying himself as a trouble-maker, to take over the Likud without dividing it.
Sharon’s confidantes pulled an ugly trick on Netanyahu during the weekend. They creased a false idea in the press that Sharon allegedly plans to fire him. Such a termination never occurred, but humiliation did. Such humiliation is an eternal allocation for any successor.
At the cabinet meeting, Olmert told Netanyahu: “From all those sitting at the table, including (Vice Premier Shimon) Peres, you told that man, 'I have found a friend.'”
“What was that?” asked Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
“The head of the Palestinian Authority,” Olmert said.
“What, who?” said Labor member Haim Ramon.
“Yasser Arafat,” Olmert said, stabbing the knife into Netanyahu’s back all the way.
Nahum Barnea is a columnist for Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth
