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By Micah D. Halpern
October 20, 2004
There is a debate afoot in Israel. So what's new?
This debate is not about security or defense or terror. It's about the nature of Israeli democracy. That's new.
It centers around the pronouncements by Prime Minister Sharon stating that he wants to get out of the Gaza strip. He?s said it often, clearly, decisively.
So why has it not yet happened?
The simple answer is: the opposition. Not the opposition party, but opposition from his own right flank.
But the answer isn't simple. Getting out of Gaza is not about troop movements or family re-rooting and displacement or even about economic incentives. The prime minister is not talking about issues of security, not about defense or even about terror. For Israel's prime minister the process of getting out of Gaza -- or not, if that is your predilection, is about the nature of Israeli democracy.
It has turned into a major debate. And there are two vocal sides. The question being asked is: should there be a referendum or not?
On the one side are the politicians who are looking out for their own future place on party lists and for their own Knesset seats. They are the voices seeking a national referendum. Let the people decide, they say. And since, according to the most recent polls, over seventy percent of Israelis in general favor disengagement, evacuation and withdrawal and another seventy percent, this time of Likud voters, Sharon's party, agree. Then these politicians will come out publicly in favor of an immediate withdrawal.
But Prime Minister Sharon does not want a referendum. He sees it as a first step towards anarchy.
On the other side are those who favor new elections. These are the people who are opposed to leaving Gaza and certainly opposed to a referendum. These people hope to reshuffle the elected power base, mistakenly thinking that it will result in a lean to the right and more support for their cause. They are mistaken because even Sharon's natural opposition, Labor, is in sync with Sharon this time, in favor of his withdrawal plan. And they, too, are looking over their shoulders and will not jeopardize their already weak standing in Knesset with new elections.
And Sharon can count on that.
And Israel, if nothing else, is certainly a parliamentary democracy, a type of democratic republic.
When the ancient Greeks first hammered out the theory and practice of democracy, every male citizen was given an equal voice and vote. But through the process of historical evolution, democracies developed into democratic republics. And in democratic republics the people are always given a voice -- but a vote only every election. And with that vote they democratically -- turn the power of decision making to the winner, the person who receives the most votes.
Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan has been passed by the cabinet. That is enough to classify it as a policy of the government. And if it were to come before the Knesset, Israel's parliament, the plan would certainly win a majority of over sixty votes.
Just to compound the situation, here's an ironic factoid. In response to Israel?s handling of the Golan Heights negotiations several years ago, the Knesset passed a law stating that when situations arise involving the transfer of Israeli land to neighboring countries, there are two options. One option is that the decision be brought before the Knesset and receive a super majority -- that is a two-thirds majority, or at least seventy-five out of the 120 parliamentarians. The other option is to go to a national referendum.
The kicker here is that Israel does not recognize the Palestinian Authority as a country. It is a ruling authority over a series of cities and regions. And even if a recognized Palestinian State was in place, the Knesset would almost certainly block Sharon's intended withdrawal from Gaza, not reaching the necessary super majority.
As of now, Ariel Sharon, the duly elected prime minister of this democratic state, can proceed as he deems best.
Now the question is not what's a prime minister to do, but when will he do it?
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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