S'13
12-02-2004, 11:17 AM
Background / Sharon's Trump card: The campaign of his life
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent
Never before has an Israeli prime minister been likened to Donald Trump.
Then again, never before has an Israeli prime minister sacked or spurred the resignation of 10 cabinet ministers in less than half a year - and stayed in power.
In a reference to the Trump's watch-it-even-if-you-loathe-it reality program "The Apprentice," a front-page Thursday newspaper analysis of Sharon's handling of what appeared to be a drubbing over the budget was headlined "You're Fired!"
In his scramble to forge a Disengagement Government, a coalition capable of leaving Gaza before Sharon leaves office, Sharon has set a new record for Israeli chief executives.
Since June, on the eve of a vaguely-worded cabinet endorsement of the disengagement proposal, Sharon has presided over the angry, defiant, and/or tactical exit of cabinet ministers from the far-right National Union, the settler-driven National Religious Party, and even his own Likud.
Late on Wednesday, Sharon's shrinking coalition suffered its most extensive hemorrhage yet, as the pro-"Netanyomics," pro-disengagement, anti-Haredi Shinui joined in a Knesset rout of the government's 2005 State Budget proposal.
For a man ostensibly drubbed hours before in a key budget vote, however, Sharon seemed only to have been buoyed by the turn of events, quipping and calm as he held forth at a rare, nationally-broadcast marathon press conference on Thursday morning.
"Disengagement will be implemented - period. I repeat, it will be implemented - period," Sharon said. "It will be implemented according to the [mid-2005] timetable that has been set."
To all appearances, Sharon resolved some time ago to stake his career on the Trump Card, the opportunity that might be afforded by clearing the decks of Shinui in order to pave the way for a government anchored by the Likud, midwifed by the ultra-Orthodox, and clinched by the vocally pro-disengagement Labor.
To the clear fascination of the reporters present, Sharon proceeded to give what was perhaps the speech of his life, a ringing, sprawling kick-off to a most unusual political campaign, one aimed specifically at putting off elections - at least long enough to take Israel out of Gaza.
The 76-year-old Sharon left little doubt that this was to be the campaign of his life.
"We are facing fateful decisions and it's important to have a wide, stable unity government. Leaving Gaza is the most important thing now in the view of most of the Israeli public," he added, in a reference to opinion polls showing nearly 60 percent support for the plan.
Sharon took square aim at Shinui, turning aside the secular party's insistence that it left the government in protest over an eleventh-hour agreement under which the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism threw its budget vote to Sharon's column in return for NIS 290 million in allocations to the Ashkenazi Haredi sector.
"The reason for Shinui's departure is not rooted in the agreement with United Torah Judaism," Sharon told the news conference.
"In my view, the reason was an unsuccessful attempt to force a political move on me, in order to dictate the make-up of the coalition, a move that could not be carried out in the manner that [Shinui] demanded," Sharon said, in an apparent reference to the "big bang" proposal for a coalition of Likud, Labor and Shinui, shunning ultra-Orthodox parties.
Earlier this year, Likud field bosses nixed the Likud-Labor-Shinui proposal, in part because the Likud would have constituted a minority within its own government.
On Wednesday night, Sharon lost no time in administering a raft of letters prepared in advance, sacking the five Shinui ministers - one of them barely two days in office - thus shattering the last remaining bond of his ruling coalition.
The balance sheet at the end of the dismissals and defections set another record for standing Israeli governments. The coalition which roared into power last year with a solid 68 votes in the 120-seat Knesset, now consists in its entirety of the 40 lawmakers of the Likud - at least 10 of whom fall into the "rebel" class of vigorous opponents of disengagement.
"What options does Sharon have left? What else can the prime minister try now, after he's run through all the other possibilities, fired everyone possible, marshaled all the resources he could?" asked commentator Shalom Yerushalmi on Thursday.
"The only thing he has left today is to turn to the Labor Party, the very last card in his deck."
'There is no other alternative'
"As prime minister, it is my responsibility to continue to run the country - all of the country," Sharon declared. "Under the circumstances that have been created, there is no alternative but to begin officially to try to widen the coalition with the Labor Party and the religious parties."
The first obstacle in the path of Sharon's heaven-and-earth moving equipment will be the mercurial Likud Central Committee, which, in its frequent role of spoiler, handed Sharon a smarting political setback earlier this year by voting - twice - to bar him from opening talks with Labor over a unity government.
Recently, however, close observers of the Central Committee have noted a new mood in the Central Committee, which historically relishes the role of kingmaker more than it does that of spoiler.
Some have credited the change to two concurrent factors: the altered political-diplomatic atmosphere created in the aftermath of the death of Central Committee bogeyman Yasser Arafat, and on Thursday, two key Likud players, Likud Central Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi, who supports disengagement, and Yisrael Katz, who opposes it, both weighed in with an assessment that a coalition of Likud, Labor, UTJ and perhaps the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas stood a good chance of passage.
Their view was bolstered by an Israel Radio poll released Thursday, which showed that a clear majority of Likud voters favored a unity government with the Labor Party and UTJ.
"It's clear that in the political reality that has been created, there are two options: a unity government, or going to early elections. I hope that my comrades in the Likud will understand that the time has come to decide between these two alternatives. There is no other alternative," said Sharon.
The election threat could be a powerful weapon in Sharon's hands. Polls show that many of the 40 Likud lawmakers, including some of the back-benchers who oppose disengagement, could lose their jobs if elections took place soon.
If, on the other hand, Sharon's all-or-nothing gamble pays off, he could be the first Israeli prime minister to complete his full term in the last dozen years.
"Elections at this point are not what the State of Israel needs," Sharon continued. "Neither are they what the Likud needs. We are in the process of diplomatic and economic processes of the highest importance, and it is clear that elections will delay them."
"For the benefit of the State of Israel, I hope that we shall succeed in establishing a stable new coalition which will rule until November 2006."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=509031&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent
Never before has an Israeli prime minister been likened to Donald Trump.
Then again, never before has an Israeli prime minister sacked or spurred the resignation of 10 cabinet ministers in less than half a year - and stayed in power.
In a reference to the Trump's watch-it-even-if-you-loathe-it reality program "The Apprentice," a front-page Thursday newspaper analysis of Sharon's handling of what appeared to be a drubbing over the budget was headlined "You're Fired!"
In his scramble to forge a Disengagement Government, a coalition capable of leaving Gaza before Sharon leaves office, Sharon has set a new record for Israeli chief executives.
Since June, on the eve of a vaguely-worded cabinet endorsement of the disengagement proposal, Sharon has presided over the angry, defiant, and/or tactical exit of cabinet ministers from the far-right National Union, the settler-driven National Religious Party, and even his own Likud.
Late on Wednesday, Sharon's shrinking coalition suffered its most extensive hemorrhage yet, as the pro-"Netanyomics," pro-disengagement, anti-Haredi Shinui joined in a Knesset rout of the government's 2005 State Budget proposal.
For a man ostensibly drubbed hours before in a key budget vote, however, Sharon seemed only to have been buoyed by the turn of events, quipping and calm as he held forth at a rare, nationally-broadcast marathon press conference on Thursday morning.
"Disengagement will be implemented - period. I repeat, it will be implemented - period," Sharon said. "It will be implemented according to the [mid-2005] timetable that has been set."
To all appearances, Sharon resolved some time ago to stake his career on the Trump Card, the opportunity that might be afforded by clearing the decks of Shinui in order to pave the way for a government anchored by the Likud, midwifed by the ultra-Orthodox, and clinched by the vocally pro-disengagement Labor.
To the clear fascination of the reporters present, Sharon proceeded to give what was perhaps the speech of his life, a ringing, sprawling kick-off to a most unusual political campaign, one aimed specifically at putting off elections - at least long enough to take Israel out of Gaza.
The 76-year-old Sharon left little doubt that this was to be the campaign of his life.
"We are facing fateful decisions and it's important to have a wide, stable unity government. Leaving Gaza is the most important thing now in the view of most of the Israeli public," he added, in a reference to opinion polls showing nearly 60 percent support for the plan.
Sharon took square aim at Shinui, turning aside the secular party's insistence that it left the government in protest over an eleventh-hour agreement under which the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism threw its budget vote to Sharon's column in return for NIS 290 million in allocations to the Ashkenazi Haredi sector.
"The reason for Shinui's departure is not rooted in the agreement with United Torah Judaism," Sharon told the news conference.
"In my view, the reason was an unsuccessful attempt to force a political move on me, in order to dictate the make-up of the coalition, a move that could not be carried out in the manner that [Shinui] demanded," Sharon said, in an apparent reference to the "big bang" proposal for a coalition of Likud, Labor and Shinui, shunning ultra-Orthodox parties.
Earlier this year, Likud field bosses nixed the Likud-Labor-Shinui proposal, in part because the Likud would have constituted a minority within its own government.
On Wednesday night, Sharon lost no time in administering a raft of letters prepared in advance, sacking the five Shinui ministers - one of them barely two days in office - thus shattering the last remaining bond of his ruling coalition.
The balance sheet at the end of the dismissals and defections set another record for standing Israeli governments. The coalition which roared into power last year with a solid 68 votes in the 120-seat Knesset, now consists in its entirety of the 40 lawmakers of the Likud - at least 10 of whom fall into the "rebel" class of vigorous opponents of disengagement.
"What options does Sharon have left? What else can the prime minister try now, after he's run through all the other possibilities, fired everyone possible, marshaled all the resources he could?" asked commentator Shalom Yerushalmi on Thursday.
"The only thing he has left today is to turn to the Labor Party, the very last card in his deck."
'There is no other alternative'
"As prime minister, it is my responsibility to continue to run the country - all of the country," Sharon declared. "Under the circumstances that have been created, there is no alternative but to begin officially to try to widen the coalition with the Labor Party and the religious parties."
The first obstacle in the path of Sharon's heaven-and-earth moving equipment will be the mercurial Likud Central Committee, which, in its frequent role of spoiler, handed Sharon a smarting political setback earlier this year by voting - twice - to bar him from opening talks with Labor over a unity government.
Recently, however, close observers of the Central Committee have noted a new mood in the Central Committee, which historically relishes the role of kingmaker more than it does that of spoiler.
Some have credited the change to two concurrent factors: the altered political-diplomatic atmosphere created in the aftermath of the death of Central Committee bogeyman Yasser Arafat, and on Thursday, two key Likud players, Likud Central Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi, who supports disengagement, and Yisrael Katz, who opposes it, both weighed in with an assessment that a coalition of Likud, Labor, UTJ and perhaps the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas stood a good chance of passage.
Their view was bolstered by an Israel Radio poll released Thursday, which showed that a clear majority of Likud voters favored a unity government with the Labor Party and UTJ.
"It's clear that in the political reality that has been created, there are two options: a unity government, or going to early elections. I hope that my comrades in the Likud will understand that the time has come to decide between these two alternatives. There is no other alternative," said Sharon.
The election threat could be a powerful weapon in Sharon's hands. Polls show that many of the 40 Likud lawmakers, including some of the back-benchers who oppose disengagement, could lose their jobs if elections took place soon.
If, on the other hand, Sharon's all-or-nothing gamble pays off, he could be the first Israeli prime minister to complete his full term in the last dozen years.
"Elections at this point are not what the State of Israel needs," Sharon continued. "Neither are they what the Likud needs. We are in the process of diplomatic and economic processes of the highest importance, and it is clear that elections will delay them."
"For the benefit of the State of Israel, I hope that we shall succeed in establishing a stable new coalition which will rule until November 2006."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=509031&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2