 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Jan. - 3 Feb. 1999 Issue No. 414 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
 |
 |
|
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Jan. - 3 Feb. 1999 Issue No. 414
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
|
|
Egypt Region International Focus Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Netanyahu's nemesis?
By Graham UsherThe imminent departure of Yitzak Mordechai from Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud Party had been widely predicted for over a year. Yet when the inevitable came it provided the biggest shock of Israel's so far lackluster election campaign. This was because in the end Mordechai did not jump ship -- he was pushed overboard.
The writing was clearly on the wall on 22 January when Mordechai failed to meet the deadline for Likud members to announce their candidacy for the Knesset. Israeli commentators immediately surmised that Mordechai had left Likud to set up his stall with Israel's new "centre" party of former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former Likud Finance Minister Dan Meridor and the outgoing mayor of Tel Aviv, Roni Milo.
Yet, even then, the defence minister appeared to hedge, issuing a statement that he was still a member of Likud and would decide his future "in the next few days". Having spent a week trying to keep Mordechai in the Likud fold, Netanyahu feigned indifference. "Anyone who wants to go with us is welcome and anyone who does not want to join us won't," he said on 22 January. Once it became clear Mordechai had passed the point of no return, however, the gloves came off.
Pitching his assault on his ex-defence minister where it would hurt most, Netanyahu read Mordechai's dismissal notice live on prime time Israeli TV. "Elected to the Parliament by Likud voters and appointed minister of defence by a Likud prime minister, you have conducted negotiations with opposition parties whose goal is to bring down the Likud government," he intoned on 23 January. The charge was entirely accurate -- Mordechai was told he had lost his job while attending a meeting of the "centrists". But he replied in kind.
Attending his last ever cabinet meeting as a Likud member the next day, Mordechai invoked the Bible to justify the double dealing against his former colleagues. "Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and a deceitful tongue!" he read. He also dabbled in a bit of political prophecy, drawn from the First Book of Samuel. "The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day and hath given it to another who is better than thee." It soon became clear which "other" Mordechai had in mind. On 25 January he was declared chairman of the new centre party and its candidate for prime minister. Netanyahu had lost a defence minister and gained a challenger.
Netanyahu would also appear to be the main political loser in the debacle. Prior to the 1996 elections, Mordechai had approached the Labour Party with a view to becoming its future defence minister. Shimon Peres turned him down, and Mordechai went off to join Likud where he was promised the defence portfolio. Many Israeli commentators then contended that it was Mordechai's switch of allegiance that gave Netanyahu his narrow electoral victory over Peres.
During his tenure at defence, Mordechai forged good relations with the Palestinian Authority (especially its security chiefs), Jordan, Egypt and, above all, the Americans as a politician who was pragmatic rather than an ideologue. As an Iraqi Kurd, he also hails from Israel's Sephardi community, who tend to be traditional on religious matters and vote for Likud at elections. In quoting from the Bible so publicly, Mordechai was making an electoral pitch for that community. Nor was it a coincidence that no sooner had Mordechai left Likud than he met with Rabbi Ovadia Yusuf, the spiritual leader of Israel's Sephardi Shas movement. It remains to be seen whether Yusuf will instruct his followers in Shas to vote for Mordechai rather than the "Ashkenazi" Netanyahu.
But it is almost certain that in running for prime minister Mordechai will draw support from Likud's reservoir of voters rather than Labour's. This is particularly so if -- as they have implied -- Mordechai and the centrists throw their electoral weight behind Labour's Ehud Barak rather than Netanyahu in any second round run-off for prime minister.
The Palestinian Authority will also be privately pleased that Mordechai has ditched Likud. This is based on the logic that what is bad for Netanyahu is good for the Oslo peace process. It may turn out to be wishful thinking. In October 1997, Mordechai drew up a map outlining those "national and security" interests that Israel must preserve in any final settlement with the Palestinians. The map ruled out any shared sovereignty in Jerusalem and envisaged a final dispensation in which Israel would keep control of around 60 per cent of the West Bank.
Mordechai may be liked in Washington and get on with the Arabs better than Netanyahu. But when the issue is withdrawing from occupied Palestinian territory he is likely to be as hard-line as Netanyahu, Barak, Shahak -- and just about every other mainstream Israeli politician.
