Friday, July 20, 1984 15
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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METZUDAT Ze'ev, headquarters of
the Likud, is a modern concrete pile
rising high enough out of the drab-
ness of King George Street to be
cooled by the sea breezes. Labour
Party headquarters is a compact,
stucco structure that would be indis-
tinguishable from its neighbours on
Hayarkon Street, were it not for the
banners and flags flying•bravely from
its façade.
In their brusque and seemingly
trivial fashion — "Those posters
should have been ready days ago,"
"How many T-shirts do we have
ready?" the men and women in
these two buildings are engaged in
one of the most sensitive enterprises
imaginable — understanding the
heart of a nation and addressing its
hopes and fears in such a way as to
make the people ready to entrust
them with their fate.
"We made an ethnic revolution,"
says Reiser. "We restored the
Oriental community's pride and
feeling of belonging to society as
equal citizens. We point this out in
the campaign, but we don't want to
be vulgar about it. We could do it a
lot more crudely and say 'You were
second-class citizens under Labour,'
but we don't."
Labour, for its part, is hoping that
the Sephardi breakaway has led to a
coming of 4e.
"IT'S A DIFFERENT public now,"
says ex-national student leader Yis-
rael Katz, who handles Ariel Shar-
on's campaign office in Likud head-
quarters. "Even in the Carmel Mar-
ket you get people asking sophisti-
cated questions. People are intelli-
gent and they know small details. A
large number 'haven't decided
whether or not to vote. Things are
not clear to them."
Labour headquarters also senses a
different atmosphere. "In the '81
elections," says Gideon Gazjt, in
charge of organization, "if I drove
into certain neighbourhoods with
Labour stickers on my car, I'd have
to return on foot. This time there's
no problem of violence, not so far at
least." .
His counterpart at Metzudat
Ze'ev is red-bearded Micha Reiser,
an energetic young Knesset member
who still looks like a campus politi-
cian.
"Labour is trying to tranquilize
the campaign," says Reiser. "It's our
job to bring out the vote and make
sure our branches do- their job. It's
difficult for our people to do some-
thing if' they see that their neigh-
bours in Labour aren't doing any-
thing. We have to explain to them
that the other side is organizing for
the final push behind closed doors."
Labour readily acknowledges that
it is seeking a low-key campaign.
"We have a soft strategy: . says
Nahum Fassa, who heads the in-
formation section. "We' criticize
Likud and emphasize our accom-
plishment.% but we do it as much as
possible rationally and without emo-
tion. No personal attacks. We need
the quiet in order to have the open-
ness necessary for peoele to,listen
and think."
"Our strong card is the economy,"
acknowledges Fassa. "We don't
avoid confrontation on issues like
Lebanon or the territories, but the
main crisis of confidence today con-
cerns- the economy. In everybody's
heart there is fear of the future."
Likud's issue, says Reiser, is
"Eretz Yisrael — this is a question of
our existence." As for the economic
issue, "We have to explain that
Labour doesn't have any magic
wand."
Neither side seems clear about
how decisive Lebanon would be as
an issue, particularly since there
seems to be no great difference be-
tween the two parties over the need
for an IDF pullout.
"Pride isn't singing 'Linda, Linda'
any more," says Knesset Member
Rafi Edri, a Sephardi himSelf, who
heads Labour's campaign office
dealing with development towns and
urban Sephardi neighbourhoods.
"The Oriental community is as wise
as any other sector of the popula-
tion. People are willing to listen if
you explain and you are credible."
"Sure Labour made many mis-
takes. It didn't distribute all the
ethnic groups to development areas,
for instance. But we explain that the
state didn't begin in 1977 [when the
Likud came topower]. We ask what
national project the Likud has begun
in the past seven years like the
national water carrier, the military
industries, the petrochemical indus-
tries launched under Labour."
BOTH PARTIES are directing their
campaigns primarily at the same seg-
ment of 'the population that voted
Likud in the last elections and is
hesitating now.
"We know that 90 per cent of
Labour voters will vote Labour
again and that the other 10 per cent
will-probably vote for parties close to
Labour," says the party's Fassa.
"Only 40 per cent of Likud voters
say they have decided this time for
Likud. We're trying to appeal to the
other 60 per cent. We tell them they
had good intentions but it didn't
work out. We are also aiming at
young first-time voters who have a
tendency to lean to the right."
THE PUBLIC has free access to
Metzudat Zedv, but at 110 Hayar-
kon, a no-nonsense civilian guard
inside the entrance makes sure that
only those authorized enter. This
gives the Labour headquarters a
more sedate look.
"We're looking for Yamin Suis-
sa," shouts a secretary over a bad
line, referring to the Jerusalem
neighbourhood activist who has
j oined the Labour campaign.
Another secretary on the tele-
phone is coordinating a parlour
meeting that night in Haifa's' Denya
Quarter, at the other end of the
social spectrum. "Yes, the Alon
family. How many do you expect?
Are these people who need convinc-
ing?"
Each day there are 100 public •
appearances by Labour Party candi-
dates and another 100 parlour meet-
ings. And the pace is hotting up.
Cautious optimism is the way
Labour functionaries describe their
mood at the moment. "Our sense of
things from the field confirms what
the polls say, but I don't agree that
the dice have fallen," says Fassa. •
"There is a large floating vote and
even people who have declared for
one of the parties can change their
minds if there is a dramatic develop-
ment."
Says Likud's ReiSer: "The situa-
tion in the field is, much better than
the polls show."
THE CAMPAIGN'S great un-
Both sides are mustering their
known is the extent to which the
forces for the final push. "For the
ethnic issue will play a part. It is
first time, we're going to use eompu-
generally accepted that the Sephardi
ters to track down voters living out-
majority's turn to Likud was a rebel-
side the polling areas in which they
lion against the Labour establish-
ate registered," says Labour's Gazit.
ment's patronage that had nurtured
them but did not offer them a sense . We're going to offer Labour voters
transportation to their Oiling sta-
of partnership.
Lion even if irs . .in a different titY.
•
This could mean 70,000 votes."
•
A MAJOR question is- whether, as
the campaign winds up, the Likud,:
• will resort not to comrfuters but to a
bulldozer. .
• • On an upper floor of Metzudat
.• Ze'ev, Minister without: Portfolio .
Ariel Shartmi,' who has thus-far not
appeared in the party's television
advertisements, has his own cam 7,
•oaign staff and offices.They are,
charged. according to the sign on the
door, with special duties. The pic-
ture on the wall is of _former prime,
minister Menachem Begin. not the'
current incumbent, Yitzhak Shamir.'
whom Sharon challenged for the'
party leadership..
"Sharon personally is more popu- .
lar than ever," • says, aide Yisrael•
• • Katz. That delicately stressed "per- -
sonally" is clearly meant to distance
Sharon's popular standing from that
of the party's or its current leaders.
"lie symbolizes clear leadership,
sharp positions and power," adds
Katz, again without directly pointing
a finger at any other Likud leaders
who might not possess those attri7.
butes. .
Sharon has been appearing before
crowds four or five times a day and
he has hewn to his hard-hitting line..
that stresses security matters and the
territories.
The response of the crowds to -
Sharon's appearances has included.
shouts of "You will he prime minis-
ter," • and "You will he defence
minister." Speaking of the Oriental
community in which enthusiasm for
Sharon is centred, Katz says, "Their.
education leads them to. expect
strong leaders and Sharon is symbo-.
(Above) Metzudat Ze'ev; the Herut building and Likud command post, in
lic of this, as Begin was."
Tel Aviv's King George Street. (Below) Labour Party/Alignment head-
'Katz acknoWledges that the eto
quarters, at F10 Rehov Hayarkon.
• nomy is 'a weak point for the Likud '
("People have money. but they feel
it will do them no good if the state
collapses") and he feels that the IDF
pullback to the Awali River has
removed any substantive differences •
between Likud and Labour over
.Lebanon. The battlefield on which
Likud must wage its campaign, says.,
Sharon's aide, is Judea and Saniatia.
"We have to go heavy on ideology."
• At the end of the same corridor.,
Sits Dr. Uzi Landau. son of the late,
minister Haim Landau. who was a.
close Begin associate. The well-•
spoken son, a transport systems
• analyst who has studied at M.I.T., is
serving • as a campaign coordinator
and gives interviews to foreign jour- • ,
nalists and parliamentarians. He too •
believes that Sharon must be a prom-
inent part of, the campaign.
"There is a felt need in the country
for a strong hand. The party is gain:
ing momentum and one of the main
reasons is Arik." Others within the
party, however, regard Sharon as a
liability, more of a threat than • an
•asset. •
WHATEVER style the two big par-,_
ties adopt, it is as uncertain wooers
that they will present themselves to
the masses on election day. And they::
have never had more to be uncertain':
about. Those masses are demon-,
• strating an unprecedented and ma- -
ture ability to withhold judgement
until they can think the choice -
•
• through.
It would, of course, be simpler if
the tanks just rolled up Ruppin •
Street at first light to the government
offices, and if the voice of the exer=
cise lady on the radio . guiding tiS'•
sternly through our morning push-: .
ups were interrupted by an equally'
authoritative voice informing us of a -1
change in government. •
But that's not .how we do, it here.-,'
•On July 21..the nation will choose a
new government by casting ballots:
Often repeated, the act may have
become taken for. granted. But it
• LJ
remains a wohdrous thing.
-
Nerve
centres
ABRAHAM RABINOVICH visits the
headquarters of the Likud and Labour
'MR11111111101