Clear Vision, Fuzzy Future

The Rabin government
knows what it wants. But
its fragile political footing
threatens its evolving
Interim Agreement.

INA FRIEDMAN ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

West Bank

11 the mavens will
tell you that assess-
ing the political
ramifications of the
latest wave of
protests by West
Bank settlers
against the evolving Interim
Agreement — in short, forecast-
ing whether Yitzhak Rabin's gov-
ernment will be able to brave out
the opposition to his policy — re-
quires a knack for crystal-ball
gazing more than experience in
reading the ways of Israeli poli-
tics. Some things, however, seem
clearer than others.
The first is that for all their col-
or and coverage, so far the demon-
strations by the settlers and their
supporters inside the Green Line
have not made even a dent in the
Labor government's determina-
tion to do precisely what it said it
would do in its 1992-election plat-
form. In this sense, Mr. Rabin has
pulled no punches and feels that
he owes the settlers and their
champions no apologies, no ges-
tures, and no leeway.
As he stressed during last Sun-
day's Cabinet meeting, on the un-
derstanding (though not yet
formal agreement) reached by
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
and PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat
at Taba last week, "The govern-
ment knows very well where it's
going. It does not support the
Greater Land of Israel concept. It
does not want to rule over anoth-
er people, and it is engaged in a
process that will bring peace be-
tween us and a Palestinian enti-
ty in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza."
In short, there's no question of
the government having misled
anyone about its plans for the
West Bank and Gaza. It ran on a
platform of territorial compromise
(printed in bold face in the origi-
nal), won a majority (or at least
enough votes to block the opposi-
tion from forming a government),
and its negotiators are now work-
ing out an agreement that is ful-
ly commensurate with what it
promised the electorate.

A

Arab Votes And Rights

The point is an important one
because high on the list of issues
raised by the settlers and their

supporters in the
right-wing opposition
is the government's
"moral and legal
right" to pursue this
policy at all. Strictly
speaking, the Labor-
led coalition, with 58
Knesset seats, is a mi-
nority government.
But backed by the five
votes of Israel's two
Arab parties, it enjoys
a majority of 63 of
the Knesset's 120
deputies. The arith-
metic is uncontested.
But opponents of its
policy argue that rest-
ing as it does on the
votes of the Arab par-
ties, the government
is not entitled to make
critical decisions that
will shape the coun-
try's future.
Perhaps the clear-
est formulation of this
outlook — advanced
mostly by the settler
movement but echoed
even by Likud Chair-
man Benyamin Ne-
tanyahu — is that in
Israel, as the Jewish
state, the majority
that rules should be a
"Jewish majority."
In a recent tele-
vised debate, Rabbi
Benny Alon, one of the
leaders of Zo Artzeinu
(the movement that
tried to bring the
country to a halt Aug.
8 by blocking the
main roads) framed
this vision of democ-
racy:
"My rules are a de-
mocratic Jewish state. The prime ered to respond to this argument, analyst Moshe Negbi pointed out,
minister will always be a Jew, the undoubtedly because it is confi- however, Mr. Rabin's is not the
president will always be a Jew, dent that any attempt to rewrite first Israeli government to find it-
and there won't be any govern- the rules of Israeli democracy in self in this position.
"For those who have forgotten,"
ment that does not have (the sup- a way that will effectively disen-
port of) 61 Jewish members of the franchise close to a million of the Mr. Negbi wrote, "the Lebanon
Knesset, period.... (Arab) citizens state's citizens will promptly be War was conducted by a govern-
can be elected to the Knesset. But struck down by the Supreme ment (Menachem Begin's) that
Court.
was even narrower than the pre-
if (the Arab) minority ... is not pre-
Neither has it dwelled on its sent one and enjoyed a 'blocking
pared to play this game — and is
a party to and funds Hamas mur- privilege, as a minority govern- vote' in the Knesset thanks only
ders, as is presently thought — it ment resting on votes from out- to the support of the ultra-Or-
side the coalition, to pursue a thodox deputies, most of whose
must draw conclusions."
The government has not both- hotly contested policy. As legal voters do not serve in the army

(Opposite page) Clinging to his mother's
skirt, a child is removed by a police
officer from the chaotic scene of a rush-
hour demonstration by right-wing Israeli
protesters.

.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, left, is escorted
down the Dagan Hill settlement
encampment on July 31. Rabbi Riskin
has emerged as a leader of the civil
disobedience movement against the
Palestinian expansion in the West Bank.

