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ISRAEL,

Israeli Election Casts
Chill For Palestinians

INA FRIEDMAN

Israel Correspondent

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30

FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1992

ANIERICAN
CANCER
SOCIETY'

ip

I

f the polls are any indica-
tion, Labor's campaign
slogan — "Israel is
waiting for Rabin" — seems
far less credible now than it
did just a month ago.
Instead, just as the pundits
predicted, as the campaign
approaches the wire the two
blocs, left and right, are
running neck and neck. And
if neither bloc can form a
firm coalition within its own
camp, or deems the price of
one too high, the likeliest
outcome of the election will
be a throwback to the Likud-
Labor national unity
government that ruled from
from 1984 to 1990, and
whose inability to settle on a
policy toward the Palestin-
ians ultimately brought it
down.
Since Labor and the Likud
seem no closer to agreeing
on such a policy today, and
have actually managed to
keep the Palestinian issue
out of their campaigns,
there's a sense in the air
that, elections notwithstand-
ing, Israel and the Palestin-
ians will simply continue go-
ing round and round.
Thus not for the first time,
an odd symmetry seems to
be emerging between the
two peoples. Both display a
strong ambivalence, if not
actual indifference, toward
the elections. Both seem to
be steeped in an implacable
mood of cynicism — toward
their condition, their
leaders, and each other. And
both are signaling a mixture
of fatigue, fear, and frustra-
tion, though among the Pa-
lestinians the feeling is far
closer to despair.
Israelis understandably
focus on the Palestinian
violence perpetrated against
them. In so doing, however,
they often fail to appreciate
that the rage flooding the
Palestinian community is so
strong that it has gone
blind, turned inward, and
spun out of control. Last
week's headlines in Israel
were about the stabbing of
an Israeli youth in the capi-
tal, on Jerusalem Day, and
of a Border Guard policeman
in Bethlehem (by a Palestin-
ian engineer).
Relegated to the inside
pages is the almost routine
news that the murder of so-
called collaborators con-
tinues apace in the ter-
ritories. Last month alone,
14 Palestinians were

murdered by their com-
patriots on suspicion of col--
laboration, and over 100
such murders have been
committed since the beginn-
ing of the year.
Among the more recent In
victims was a 17-year-old
youngster from Tulkarem"
whose senseless murder by
masked youths was de-
nounced across the board in
the Palestinian community.
But to little avail. Despite ...
repeated appeals, Yassir
Arafat himself has been
unable to bring this scourge
to a halt, and it has been the
cause of recent squabbling
among local leaders. When
Dr. Haidar Abdul Shafi, the .
head of the Palestinian dele-
gation to the peace talks,.
charged in a newspaper
interview that the PLO has
proved inept at handling af-
fairs in the territories,
Feisal al-Husseini countered
that without any budget or '-
means of enforcement, the.
local leadership could hardly
be expected to control the
situation. All of this has
done little to ease the ten-
sion or brighten the mood.
Neither, it must be said,
has the prospect of a change
of government in Israel. The
Palestinian papers have
been covering the campaign,
mostly through articles
translated from the Hebrew
press. But the man in the
street tends to greet ques-
tions about the subject with -11
little more than a shrug.
"I don't follow Israeli poli-'
tics" is the most common
reply. "For us it makes no
difference who wins" is an-
other.
Occasionally a more soph-
isticated or impassioned re-
sponse is forthcoming, but*
its underlying message is
the same one of irrelevance.
"It's been 25 years of oc-
cupation now and who
knows how many Israeli 4,
elections that have ignored
the issue," complained the •
Palestinian owner of a video-
tape library. "This one is no
different."
"The fact is that Labor
screwed us even worse than
the Likud, but it did so with
style," sneers the director of •
an East Jerusalem travel
agency. "At least the Likud
is forthright about its malice
toward the Palestinians."
"The Israeli election is not
important. What really
matters is the outcome of the
election in America,'
whether Bush will be re-
elected and whether he's se-