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MK Shimon Peres said last week that it was obvious he was Labor's candidate for prime minister.
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| By israelinsider staff August 22, 2004 |
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Labor hard liners rise up against Shimon Peres, non-aligned nations close their doors to settlers, and Ze'evi's judo triumph comes with memories.
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Labor's rebels - The Likud's hard line "rebels," led by Minister without portfolio Uzi Landau, last week soundly rejected the possibility that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would bring the opposition Labor Party into the government. As a result of that vote, hard liners in Labor have begun rebelling against party chairman MK Shimon Peres with calls for early elections and for Peres to step down.
The Labor rebels are led by MKs Matan Vilnai, Ophir Pines-Paz, and Avraham (Beige) Shochat, and include MKs Yuli Tamir and Eitan Cabel. At a meeting this morning, the group called for an immediate end to coalition talks with the Likud and for internal elections to determine who will lead the party in the next elections.
Haaretz reported that most Labor MKs oppose continuing coalition talks while the Jerusalem Post's editorial today said that Peres's call for new elections should not be taken seriously.
Meanwhile, in commentary published by The Guardian, Emanuele Ottolenghi warns that either the Likud's "rebels bow to the prime minister's stronger will, or the rightwing Likud party will lose power and also lose the settlements in the occupied territories that Sharon's opponents are trying so hard to preserve. Likud might even lose Sharon himself," Ottolenghi writes.
World doors barred to settlers - The Non-Aligned Movement last week urged all of its members to act "individually or collectively" to impose sanctions against Israel. A statement issued by the movement called on member states "to decline entry to Israeli settlers and to impose sanctions against companies and entities involved in the construction of the wall and other illegal activities in the occupied Palestinian territory."
The 115 member nations of the Non-Aligned Movement, which include India, Thailand, Nepal, and Peru, issued this document as a midterm review in Durban, South Africa.
Diplomats at the United Nations termed the organization's statement "one of the gravest" ever issued against Israel, even though it is strictly declarative and does not bind the movement's members, Haaretz reported.
Of medals and memories - Judoka Arik Ze'evi returned to Israel this morning after winning the bronze medal in his weight category at the 2004 Olympic Games.
Writing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mac Engel noted that Ze'evi's judo triumph came on Israel's darkest Olympic day.
"Only hours after celebrating one his nation's few proud international sporting moments, Ariel Ze'evi and the rest of his countrymen formally acknowledged Israel's darkest Olympic period.
"On the Hebrew calendar, Thursday marked 22 years to the day when five Arab terrorists broke into a poorly guarded athlete's village in Munich, Germany and eventually killed 11 members of Israel's national team at the 1972 Summer Olympics," Engel wrote.
"Terrorist acts will always happen, unfortunately," Ze'evi said. "But sports should be pure."
Israel's gold medal hopes now turn to Gal Friedman, who is currently ranked in first place and has three rounds to go to capture the Mistral windsurfing championship. Friedman finished first in the eighth round of competition yesterday.
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