Frank Viviano Writes Israel at odds over U.S. war
Far right party leaves coalition — military angry at politicians
- Jerusalem — Under unremitting pressure to assist the United
States in its war with Osama bin Laden, Israel’s fragile political
consensus appears to be crumbling.- A bitter — and very public — confrontation between the
Ministry of Defense and the army, which erupted over the weekend,
was followed yesterday by the abrupt withdrawal of a far right
party from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s coalition government.- The National Union Party, which controls seven seats in the
Israeli Knesset,- said it was leaving to protest an Israeli troop pullback
from Palestinian areas in the West Bank town of Hebron, and because
it opposed moves to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.- The government’s decision to withdraw troops from Hebron
also has revealed a level of animosity between the military and
the elected government that analysts say is unprecedented. And
it reflects, they say, deepening divisions among Israel’s ruling
conservatives over the nation’s response to the U.S.-led war
on terrorism and the year-old Palestinian intifada.- Frictions inside Sharon’s Cabinet burst into open conflict
on Sunday, when army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz issued
an official statement condemning the troop withdrawal, which
had been promised as part of an attempt to restore an Israeli-Palestinian
truce.- The truce moves came in response to intense prodding from
the Bush administration, which is determined to reduce Palestinian-Israeli
tensions while trying to maintain support from Arab and Muslim
governments for its war on bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network
and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.- In a press release circulated by the army, Mofaz declared
his firm opposition to the withdrawal, and to any easing of Palestinian
conditions that would “make it difficult to provide security
for Israeli citizens and soldiers. “- Public opposition by an army commander to government orders
is almost unheard of in Israel, where civilian control over the
military is a fundamental principle.- “There is no place for such a maneuver in a democracy,”
an angry Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer replied in an
official statement of his own. Ben- Eliezer reportedly called
for the immediate dismissal of Mofaz, who is scheduled to serve
as army chief until July 2002. In the end, he agreed to “severely
reprimand” the Israeli Defense Force commander, rather than
change the army’s command structure at a moment of high regional
tensions.- The incident sent shock waves through the Israeli political
world. Former Justice Minister Yossi Bellin said Mofaz’s public
announcement of army opposition to a government order amounted
to “a near putsch.”- The army had been sent into Hebron on Oct. 4 to protect a
small Jewish enclave in the overwhelmingly Arab city, which is
technically under the sovereignty of the Palestinian Authority.
Representatives of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied
territories were quick to back Mofaz. “To pull the army
out now is criminal,” Orit Struck, a spokeswoman for the
Hebron enclave, told the Jerusalem Post.- Sharon only learned of Mofaz’s statement at a Cabinet meeting
hours after its release to the press. According to witnesses
at the meeting, a shouting match erupted between the prime minister
and other conservative members of the governing coalition, most
notably Education Minister Limor Livnat and Uzi Landau, the hard-line
public security minister.- “You are not more nationalistic than I am, not even
by one centimeter,” Sharon reportedly screamed at the two
and other Cabinet members who supported Mofaz’s position.- Israeli newspapers speculate that the conflict may reflect
political ambitions by Mofaz, who is close to former Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon’s archrival for the Likud Party leadership.
Yesterday, Netanyahu defended Mofaz and said he, too, was against
the withdrawal from Hebron.- Several hundred Likud Party members have signed a petition
to the party’s central committee that “opposes a Palestinian
state west of the Jordan.” The petition was circulated recently
by the Our Way is Your Way Movement, a group associated with
Netanyahu.- In off-the-record conversations with journalists, Mofaz had
made it clear two weeks ago that he also opposed the resumption
of meetings between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.- The Israeli far right regards the meetings and troop withdrawals
as the latest in a series of “capitulations” to U.S.
demands for a negotiated settlement. Accusing Sharon of breaking
his promises, Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, a member of the
National Union, said in the Knesset yesterday, “We do not
want to be in the Oslo government,” referring to the interim
peace accords signed in 1993.- Even before Washington began its war on terrorism, Sharon
had reluctantly conceded the need for an independent Palestinian
state and promised to halt the establishment of further Jewish
settlements in the Occupied Territories, where more than 200,000
Israelis now live.- The pressure intensified on Oct. 2, when President Bush became
the first Republican president to endorse the creation of a Palestinian
state.- Yesterday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair made an even
stronger endorsement than Bush of “a viable Palestinian
state.” Speaking after a meeting in London with Yasser Arafat,
Blair added that it is “time to put right the injustices
of the past,” wording that appeared to echo Arafat’s assertions
that Palestinians are victims of Israeli expansionism.- After the National Union’s announced withdrawal from his
governing coalition, Sharon told the Israeli parliament, “I
am not subject to any pressure, and I do not intend to make any
compromise on issues that endanger Israel’s security.”- Then he said to National Union leaders, “You have caused
me great distress. To Arafat, on the other hand, you have given
great satisfaction, . . . You made his day.”
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