Power to the People!
Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Ever since the September 1978, Camp David Accords Zionist organizations
have labored mightily but in vain to prevent Israel’s retreat toward her
1949 armistice lines. Not to minimize the educational value of their
publications and public activities. Nevertheless, the retreat
continues.
But let us consider only the Oslo period from which Israel
has yet to emerge. Many full-page newspaper ads denounced the Oslo,
i.e., Israel-PLO Agreement of September 1993. A January 1994 ad signed
by hundreds of former senior Israeli officers and academics warned the
public about the disastrous consequences of Oslo. More significant
were mass demonstrations against Oslo, some said to exceed 300,000
people. All in vain. Why?
The conventional answer is “American pressure.” If this is
an adequate explanation, then Israel is doomed. Of course, one can add
to external pressure the fecklessness of Israeli prime ministers or
their lack of “Jewish identity.” Since genetic engineers have yet to
come up with an anti-cowardice or Jewish identity pill, what is one to
do about Israel’s woeful state of affairs?
The first thing that comes to mind in a country having
democratic elections is this: “Change the party or prime minister in
power.” Well, the Jews of Israel have been doing that for almost three
decades and the country continues to shrink regardless of which party or
prime minister is in power. Which leads some observers to attribute
Israel’s retreat to a lemming-like trait of the Jewish people. This
view is another dead-end. It is also erroneous.
A large majority of Israel’s Jewish population opposed
recognition of the PLO as well as the policy of “territory for peace.”
This is precisely why the Labor Party had to lie its way into power in
the June 1992 national elections. But to oppose recognition of the PLO
is to oppose Oslo, which hinged on a Labor’s recognition of the PLO.
The mass demonstrations mentioned above illustrate that the Jews are not
lemmings.
Or “silent sheep,” as one Israeli right-wing commentator
mournfully complains. The Israel-PLO Agreement was a fait accompli
ratified on the White House lawn to overawe the Jews of Israel. True,
many Jews have since become resigned to an Oslovian Palestinian state –
not from apathy, however, but from an apathy borne of POWERLESSNESS.
Unfortunately, most Israelis do not seem to understand the
basic cause of their powerlessness — which also may be said of Zionist
organizations, judging from their preoccupation with criticism of Oslo
and the American State Department. Inundating the public with such
criticism punctuated by stale remarks about “American pressure” or about
the timidity of Israeli politicians or their lack of “Jewish identity”
obscures the basic cause of the powerlessness of the Jewish people.
The Jews of Israel are powerless because, in this so-called
democratic country, political power (to say nothing of economic power)
is concentrated in Israel’s political parties, above all, Labor and the
Likud. The members of these parties who sit in the Knesset or head
cabinet ministries are not accountable to the people. They do not have
to compete against rival candidates in district elections, as is done in
74 democratic countries. The leaders of these parties have safe seats
on their party’s electoral list, and the winning party forms Israel’s
inept coalition cabinet government.
This is why the Government can ignore Jewish public opinion
with impunity. This is why the Government can surrender Jewish land to
the PLO, a terrorist organization. This is why the Government can
release thousands of Arab terrorists. This is why the Knesset (whose
Jewish parties appeal to and appease Arab voters) does nothing to ban
Arab MKs blatantly guilty of sedition. This is why the Knesset
tolerates a power-hungry Supreme Court that not only scorns the abiding
beliefs and values of the Jewish people, but even ignores or nullifies
Knesset legislation.
If this analysis is basically correct — and I challenge
anyone to refute it — then, if there is any solution to Israel’s
malaise, it resides in the People, whose deepest convictions have never
been faithfully represented by any Israeli government thanks primarily
to the power of Israel’s two political parties, Labor and the Likud, a
power perpetuated by Israel’s parliamentary electoral laws.
The initial focal point of the solution must therefore be:
POWER TO THE PEOPLE. How? By means of well-designed district
elections that make politicians accountable to the voters. Not the
parties, but the people must choose who will sit in the Knesset and who,
under the present system, will be a cabinet minister.
True, district elections will not solve all of Israel’s
problems. But it is the most practical and expeditious way to begin.
Israel needs a Jewish agenda, and the first item on that agenda should
be POWER TO THE PEOPLE by means of district elections!
