These statements come against the twin backdrops of Netanyahu’s continued climb in popularity among Likud rank-and-file members and Labor’s ascendancy in national polls. Sharon is under mounting pressure from both right and left, and where a year ago he enjoyed unprecedented support in national polls, he currently seems to be unable to do anything right.
Labor’s climb in the polls can be attributed, at least in part, to the fact that they now have a leader in a position of power, who is beginning to assert himself and define a policy that Labor will follow into the next elections.
The opposition Sharon faces on the right is far more complex. To begin with, Netanyahu has resurrected himself as the Messiah incarnate, and enjoys the same public persona today that he did prior to the 1996 elections. That he was the first Prime Minister in Israeli history toppled by public dissatisfaction seems to have been forgotten by the right-wing electorate. Every statement out of Netanyahu’s camp must be weighed in light of his drive for power against a sitting prime minister of his own party. His challenge is serious, and Sharon knows it.
At the same time, there is mounting pressure from outside the Likud to force Sharon into stronger action against the terrorism that has been plaguing Israel for the past year and a half. Last week, that pressure forced Sharon to the airwaves to make an impassioned plea for patience on the part of the electorate.
The pressure tactics against Sharon receive a huge boost from statements by former prime ministers such as Netanyahu and Barak over the weekend. But the question must be asked: If Netanyahu and Barak are so positive that Arafat is a terrorist and that he should be dealt with as such, where were these “leaders” when they were in power? How come they were so prepared to deal with Arafat then?
It is all fine and good for Netanyahu and Barak to sit in Los Angeles or New York and pontificate about the failures of Sharon. To be sure, Sharon has not succeeded in any single issue area he pledged to tackle upon his election last year. The economy is a shambles, and has continued its swift and marked decline since his ascension to power. The security situation is worse now than it was a year ago, and more Jewish civilians have been killed in Israel in the past 12 months than in any other 12-month period in the State’s history.
But the root cause of all this failure, both economic and security, is Oslo. The Oslo Accords rewarded organized Palestinian terrorism with land, weapons, funding, and international recognition. That accord was brokered by Shimon Peres, today Sharon’s Foreign Minister, and continued full-speed by both Netanyahu and Barak.
Netanyahu signed away huge tracts of land to the Palestinians first with the Hevron Accord in 1997, and then with the Wye River Accord in 1998 – a deal that ultimately led to the downfall of his government. Netanyahu allowed more weapons to be imported to the Palestinian armories. He turned a blind eye to the terrorism that took place during his administration, from the murders of 16 soldiers in September 1996 to the bombing of a Tel Aviv cafe and the murder of three women in March 1997, to the murder of two hikers near Moshav Ora during the Wye summit. He ignored continued official incitement in the Palestinian media, mosques, and educational sector.
Barak took over from Netanyahu and continued the ignorance. The violence in May 2000 to mark the anniversary of Israel’s establishment was ignored. Two months later, Barak was in Washington offering the Palestinians a full state on all the land, including Jerusalem. He was even prepared to cede sovereignty on the Temple Mount.
The Palestinian response was the beginning of the current violence. And even during this violence, Barak ran first to Paris, then to Sharm al-Sheikh, then to Taba in an effort to complete his fire-sale of Israeli territory, history and security to the people he now so blithely calls terrorists.
The blind pursuit of Oslo cost both Netanyahu and Barak their jobs. The Israeli voter understands full well that Oslo is costing Israel not only lives, but over-all security, economic prosperity, and ultimately, national independence.
Netanyahu and Barak both utter the proper pronouncements now in condemning a sitting Israeli Prime Minister over foreign media outlets. They both call Arafat a terrorist. In today’s parlance, anyone who deals with a terrorist is placed outside the pale of humanity – and justly so. By branding Arafat a terrorist, Netanyahu and Barak also condemn Sharon for continuing to hold out the hope of giving the Palestinians even more of their demands.
There is no question that Sharon has made some disastrous mistakes as Prime Minister, failure to deal a deathblow to the terrorists in our midst chief among them. But before Israeli voters run pell-mell to support Netanyahu or Barak once again, it would do them good to remember where these leaders were when they had a chance to end the terrorism. Close to 300 people have been killed since September 2000 – lives that could have been saved had Netanyahu and Barak practiced on what they now preach.
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
