WHAT IF?

Shhh! The Campaign Is Sleeping

A strange, emotionless silence marks the final weeks leading up to the election.

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INA FRIEDMAN ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

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Jerusalem

Others had less visceral explanations for lack of in- issues," she explains. "Now that I have more self-con-
alking in downtown Jerusalem and terest. "We definitely don't have an election sticker on fidence, it seems to me that both candidates are promis-
driving to Tel Aviv and back last our car," proclaims Galit, a 26-year-old teacher, as if ing the same thing, and I'm not sure either of them can
weekend, it was hard to find more the notion were ridiculous. "But we certainly know who be trusted to deliver it."
Ms. Rozoff also says that neither party is addressing
than a few cars bearing election stick- we're going to vote for. We've known it for the past four
the concerns of the large immigrant population. "[The
ers on their back windows. This is in years."
Her husband, Oved, adds, "We read the papers, we
security issue] may make a difference for the State of
a country where such stickers are often so abundant
know what we believe in, and we don't need stickers,
Israel. But I don't feel it will have much of an effect on
they become safety hazards!
my own life."
True, banners supporting the competing parties were rallies, or televised ads to help us decide."
Galina Rozoff, a 34-year-old economist from the
Others welcome the unexpected mood of remoteness.
strung at various points along the highways. And young
activists (mostly teen-agers who earn good pay for their Ukraine, in Israel for 41/2 years, says she still doesn't "I was never caught up in any pre-election frenzy," ex-
plains Dan Dostrovsky, a 57-year-old accountant whose
efforts) were posted at main intersections to hand out know how she will vote.
"I didn't vote four years ago because we were new in knitted skullcap suggests his identification with the
stickers and literature to the drivers stopped at the traf-
the country and didn't feel we had a strong grasp of the modern-Orthodox National Religious Party. "I think
fic lights.
But from Metulla to Eilat, Israelis are re-
marking — some with puzzlement, others
with satisfaction — over this year's unusu-
ally low-key campaign and the general ap-
athy toward what the parties are offering.
A canvass of voters in Jerusalem's
Mancha Shopping Mall showed that the Is-
raeli "person in the street" is resistant to
proclaiming political preferences via bumper
stickers and even reluctant to discuss the
JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
elections.
"Lady, we've been polled to death by now,"
f there is one word that sums up process since 1993, officials here fear, staged a triumphal tour through the cap-
snapped a middle-aged man — just one of
the attitude of official Washington will be jeopardized if Shimon Peres is not ital intended to show Israeli voters that
the many shoppers who begged off talking
as Israeli voters get set to go to the returned to office in the nation's first- he is the man who can deliver the goods
or simply lowered their eyes and raised their
in Washington.
ever direct vote for prime minister.
polls
on May 29, it's "hope."
hands in a gesture of rejection.
This time, the goods included agree-
The
American
effort
to
boost
Mr.
In 1996, the Clinton administration
Asked, nonetheless, to reflect on the sub-
Peres' candidacy is fully in sync with La- ments dealing with enhanced coopera-
has
gone
further
than
any
of
its
prede-
ject, one woman explained that she feels as
tion in the areas of high-tech missile
cessors in linking American Mideast pol- bor Party strategists, who want high-lev-
though the campaign's been nonstop for four
el American help to counter opposition defense and counter-terrorism. But Mr.
icy
to
the
outcome
of
elections
in
Israel.
years. And she's fed up with the whole thing.
The dramatic progress in the peace charges that their leader has sacrificed Peres' determination to sign the pacts
Israeli security in his haste before the election was a clear tip-off to
to sign land-for-peace deals the importance the Labor government
with the Palestinians.
attaches to public demonstrations of
But the all-but-explicit American support, both military aml po-
American endorsement of litical, according to most observers.
That message was punctuated by last
Mr. Peres' candidacy also
may have crossed an impor- week's unusl ally short follow-up visit by
tant line separating legiti- Foreign Minister Ehud Barak, who met
mate foreign policy with Secretary of State Warren Christo-
implementation from out- pher to begin work on a broader defense
right meddling in the demo- agreement that will expand "strategic
cratic affairs of another cooperation" between Washington and
country, according to critics, Jerusalem.
Israeli and American officials had
and it may set precedents
that could come back to agreed to defer serious negotiations un-
til after the May 29 elections. But Mr.
haunt Israel in the future.
The most dramatic sign of Barak and Mr. Peres, Israeli sources
Washington's embrace of the said, insisted on the early meeting to
Labor cause came three make the pre-election point that both
weeks ago when Mr. Peres sides are serious about negotiations that
could fundamentally expand the bilat-
As Shimon Peres watches,
eral security relationship in an era of
President Clinton lays a wreath
change and risk in the Middle East.
with Leah Rabin at the grave of her
`The security issue and the 'character'
slain husband.

Too Close For Comfort?

The Clinton administration's embrace of Peres elicits cries
of meddling and backlash fears if Netanyahu prevails.

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