TIME FOR A NEW KNESSET
Shas with its 17 seats been uncerimoniously been booted out of the Sharon government after playing its usual games with the budget. This is the clearest evidence of the success of Operation Defensive Shield, the return of domestic politics to Israeli life. For if Shas is anything, it is a creature of Israeli domestic politics, above all the culture war that erupted as Israel dreamed of the New Middle East. (Stir in one part Sharptonesque race-baiting, two parts family values preaching, and a dash of class resentment). As the battered terrorist regroup, and the crisis of Arafat's war recedes, Israelis are once more coming out of the protective shell of national unity. The debate over the next step has begun in earnest - with Bibi's gambit in Likud Central, and the current jostling over the Labor platform.
The timing for such a debate is right. While Sharon has done an able job of holding the country together and smashing Arafat's offensive, his comments about Netzarim show that he has little long-term vision for the state. It's time for the various post-Oslo solutions to hashed out in democratic deliberation. In doing so however, Israel is saddled with a Knesset that was elected before Camp David and the Intifada, one in which 32% of the Israeli public voted for parties like Shas who focused primarily on issues other than security and foreign policy, and the two major parties fell to an all-time low of 34%. Israelis may feel comfortable enough to bicker in public once more, but they definitely aren't ready to go on with the culture war (exhibit A being the muted reaction to the Supreme Court's decision on non-Orthodox conversions). Its time for a Knesset that reflects the views of Israelis public, no matter how mixed, so that the next government can focus on the critical issues of Israel's future - and return to Shas' antics when it has the luxury of affording them.
Shas with its 17 seats been uncerimoniously been booted out of the Sharon government after playing its usual games with the budget. This is the clearest evidence of the success of Operation Defensive Shield, the return of domestic politics to Israeli life. For if Shas is anything, it is a creature of Israeli domestic politics, above all the culture war that erupted as Israel dreamed of the New Middle East. (Stir in one part Sharptonesque race-baiting, two parts family values preaching, and a dash of class resentment). As the battered terrorist regroup, and the crisis of Arafat's war recedes, Israelis are once more coming out of the protective shell of national unity. The debate over the next step has begun in earnest - with Bibi's gambit in Likud Central, and the current jostling over the Labor platform.
The timing for such a debate is right. While Sharon has done an able job of holding the country together and smashing Arafat's offensive, his comments about Netzarim show that he has little long-term vision for the state. It's time for the various post-Oslo solutions to hashed out in democratic deliberation. In doing so however, Israel is saddled with a Knesset that was elected before Camp David and the Intifada, one in which 32% of the Israeli public voted for parties like Shas who focused primarily on issues other than security and foreign policy, and the two major parties fell to an all-time low of 34%. Israelis may feel comfortable enough to bicker in public once more, but they definitely aren't ready to go on with the culture war (exhibit A being the muted reaction to the Supreme Court's decision on non-Orthodox conversions). Its time for a Knesset that reflects the views of Israelis public, no matter how mixed, so that the next government can focus on the critical issues of Israel's future - and return to Shas' antics when it has the luxury of affording them.
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