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The Decline and Fall of the Israeli Labor Party
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17903 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1990 |
6,912 Words |
| Author
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Leon T. Hadar
Leon T. Hadar is a Washington-based journalist who has covered
the United States for several Israeli newspapers. He currently
teaches at American University. |
It is around quarter to ten, November 1, 1988. The polls have just closed following a mild autumn day on which Israelis voted for their twelfth Knesset (Parliament). In fifteen minutes Israeli public television will be announcing the results of its first election night sample, raising the curtain on a new era in Israeli politics.
At Israeli Labor Party election headquarters, Uri Savir, a member of Shimon Peres' entourage of young and suave aides, is seen whispering something in the Labor leader's ears. Savir, Peres' American-style press aide, had just received a leak from a source in the television poll analysis group: it is dead-even for Labor and Likud. Moreover, the results indicate that Yitzhak Shamir, the Likud leader, and the other "National Block" groups affiliated with it, together with the religious-orthodox parties, could probably form a working coalition without Labor. There is no immediate sign of bitterness Israeli reporter who covers Peres characterizes his appearance as "nonpenetrable." It is not really a poker-face, but a motionless stare that reflects a certain discomfort. And there is the "would-you-buy-a-used-car-from-this-guy" smile that appears on his face when he is trying to cope with unflattering personal comments and questions, such as" "Does Mr. Peres have any plans to resign from his party's leadership position after leading it to a defeat for the fourth time in a row?”
As the meaning of the election results begins to unravel - with the Likud winning forty seats and Labor only thirty-nine, Peres is in no position to form a new government - the 65 - year-old foreign minister can probably hear the salivating of several political wolves. These Labor party "comrades" will blame him for the party's depressing political fortunes and will present themselves as more attractive alternatives. The “angry rebels" include senior party leaders like Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin an some members of the Labor "Young Guard," which in the Israeli political vocabulary means that (like in the Soviet Politburo) you are above fifty and have served the party for at least thirty years.
Or Peres could be looking behind him, perhaps trying to recall happier days. Hanging on the wall is a painting of his political mentor. David Ben-Gurion, the founding father of the State of Israel who led the Israeli labor movement in its various incarnations to impressive victories and helped to place it at the center of the political, social and economic life of the Jewish state. Until the early seventies the Labor bloc enjoyed around 50 percent of the Israeli electorate's support, whereas the Right (which included a strong
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