Middle East Analysis: What Has Happened to the Israeli "Left"?

Speaking to Ma'ariv, Israel's Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor Party) said over the weekend:

In the current sociopolitical situation, only a leader from the Right could pass a peace process through the nation.

[Prime Minister Menachem] Begin returned the Sinai. Could a Labor leader do that? Could a Labor leader have dared evacuate Gaza and destroy the settlements?

[Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin was killed just for Oslo [1993 accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization]. Does anyone think I could have evacuated Gaza? Only a leader from the Right could bring such a change. There is nothing we can do. That's the reality. Take it or leave it.

In Ben-Eliezer's mind, the relationship between Israeli right and left is almost independent from each other. The left can show no progress while the right has given all the "concessions" for the sake of the peace process. Indeed, he accused Labor of having a "self-destructive virus" and of failing to develop a new generation of leaders.

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Ben-Eliezer praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the close relationship between the premier and Defense Minister Ehud Barak:

Bibi wants to advance the diplomatic process with the Palestinians more than any leader I know. Despite the pressure he faces, he makes an effort day and night to reach a breakthrough.

Bibi and Barak broadcast the same language. They understand each other. They complete each other.

When asked why the public was heading toward the right, he said that "the nation is tired" and "sick of the Arabs."

The story is not ending up at here. Ben-Eliezer is answering the question of Haaretz's Yitzhak Laor, "Why has the left in Israel vanished?" In his analysis, Laor see the secular-religious consensus in the alliance between Netanyahu and Barak today. Against intimidations and pressures on this consensus, in which religious observers ignore the rights of Palestinians due to "the given rights from God" and secular people ignore the same rights because Israel is militarily and economically more powerful, he accues the masses of being obedient and afraid to oppose their leaders.

How can Mr. Ben-Eliezer explain Netanyahu's decision on declaring Jerusalem as "the eternal capital of Israel" and his insistence on "the natural growth" in the West Bank settlements? This scene is one of the suffering of the "left" in Israel, as elsewhere, since the demise of the Soviet Union and since the post-9/11 era's securitizing atmosphere. Israel can now claim a golden age to embed its policies into aggressive actions, as it did during the offensive in Gaza, and/or to play the "three monkeys", as it is doing right now on the settlements issue.

Is there any chance that the dead can come to life through resistance, as Laor argues, or are we now bound to invest our hopes in the Netanyahu-Barak alliance?

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On Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered support to Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir and attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Amidst harsh criticisms of Bashir's possible arrival in Istanbul for the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference this week --- it was later confirmed that he would not attend --- Erdogan said he did not believe that the Sudanese President was guilty of the crimes for which he was indicted by the International Criminal Court. However, Sudanese officials have already confirmed that Bashir will not come to Istanbul.

Then, Erdogan compared the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the continuing drama in Darfur. He said, "It is not possible for those who belong to the Muslim faith to carry out genocide....If there were such a thing in Darfur, we would be chasing this to the end." He added that he "cannot discuss this [allegation for war crimes] with Netanyahu but I can easily discuss such issues with Omar al-Bashir". Erdogan stated that Israel had committed greater crimes against Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad offered a caution to Erdogan earlier Sunday. He said that Turkey should maintain good relations with Israel so it could mediate Damascus-Jerusalem peace negotiations. Assad's statement is a likely reaction to the assertion of Netanyahu that "Turkey cannot be a honest broker anymore" and suggestions that countries such as Croatia and Italy could step in as a mediator.

In the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, Yitzhak Laor offers a provocative and supportive argument of Erdogan's position vis-a-vis Israel, stating that Israel's apartheid is worse than South Africa's. Settlements and policies of discrimination in Israel. backed by Washington, are creating a worse atmosphere for Palestinians than the past in South Africa, where black people could at least make a living.