    An interesting essay by our friend Gilad (accompanied by other Israeli
    opinions) about the election of Amir Peretz to the top of the Israeli
    Labour. It is an encouraging step, but bear in mind that the party that
    elected Peretz is NOT the all-powerful Labour of Golda Meyer or even of
    General Barak; it is a party in free fall with best assessment around
    10-15 places in the Knesset (out of 120). Sharon succeeded to derail
    Labour (as he derailed the Palestine Solidarity Movement) by his Gaza
    operation. Thus, Peretz and the Moroccans get their chance to rule
    Labour five minutes before the crash. His chances to succeed are
    minimal, for European Jews won't vote for a frank (an Oriental Jew).
    Sharon seems to be ready to run for next elections - and win. But who
    knows? And Gilad's main idea is correct: the left should turn homewards.

    Israel Shamir

    -----------------------------------------------------------

    National Socialism As Opposed to Global Capitalism

    The case of Amir Peretz by Gilad Atzmon

    http://www.gilad.co.uk/html%20files/peretz.html

    The recent election of Amir Peretz as the Chairman of the Israeli Labour
    Party is far more significant than many commentators would seem to
    admit. For the first time, the Israeli Labour party is led by a real
    fiery working class leader. Peretz is a relatively young man who grew up
    in a council estate in Sderot, a southern Israeli shantytown that was
    built especially for Arab Jews back in the 1950’s. At the time, the
    Jewish Ashkenazi elite couldn’t tolerate the idea of Arab Jews flooding
    into their newly erected European metropolises. The vast majority of
    Arab Jews were not part of the Israeli demographic landscape until after
    the foundation of the Jewish state. They were brought to Israel en mass
    in a massive exodus operation, which often times was forced. The idea
    behind the operation was the necessity to beef up the majority of the
    Jewish population by outnumbering the Palestinian population that
    refused to flee in 1948. Once in Israel, the Arab Jews were treated
    rather badly. Immediately upon their arrival they felt the heavy hand of
    Ashkenazi supremacist discrimination. The majority of the new immigrants
    were dumped in council estates in the Negev desert and other unpopular
    regions. They were there to serve the Zionist cause either as a cheap
    labour force or just as a human shield between the emerging European
    Jewish cities and the hostile Arabs on the other side.

    Peretz grew up in Sderot and in the 1980s he became the town’s mayor. In
    1995 he was elected as the head of the Histadrut, the major Israeli
    trade union. A few days ago, Mr. Peretz made it to the very centre of
    the Israeli political stage. He had managed to oust Shimon Peres, the
    never dying and yet the most defeated politician in modern history.

    Amir Peretz’s appearance is such a big revolution that Sharon and the
    Likud party are in a real state of panic. But the Likud isn’t alone,
    Shas, the Orthodox Sepharadic party is mighty concerned as well. For the
    first time, a secular Sepharadic man is leading one of the two biggest
    parties. Moreover, the man is an ordinary human being, he isn’t an
    heroic veteran IDF general. He isn’t an ex Mossad assassin, he doesn’t
    have Arab blood on his hands. He didn’t adopt the Ashkenazi’s
    pretentious jargon. He wasn’t appointed by an Ashkenazi politician as
    political bait to pull in Arab Jews. He is a simple Israeli man who
    managed to take over the second biggest Israeli party, he did it on his
    own right and he is an Arab Jew.

    Mr Peretz was born in Morocco. He immigrated to Israel at the age of
    four. He has never denied his origin or tried to assimilate into the
    Ashkenazi Israeli world. I would allow myself to argue that if there is
    any remote hope for the integration of Jews into the region, it is a man
    like Peretz who may deliver the goods. It is a man like Peretz, himself
    an Arab, who can treat his neighbours with respect. Rather than Shimon
    Peres’s global dream of ‘new Middle East’ in which Israel delivers
    wealth to the ‘inferior’ Arabs, Amir Peretz’s message to the Israeli
    people is rather simple and far less pompous: once we address our social
    problems we will be ready to talk peace with our neighbours. This
    message is actually deeper than any other Israeli political manifesto I
    can think of. To start with, it is genuine. For the first time an
    Israeli politician considers peace as a meaningful signifier rather than
    an empty slogan. For the first time an Israeli politician refuses to
    drop the word ‘shalom’ just for the sake of dropping it. But not only is
    Peretz’s message authentic, it may as well be a message to the European
    community: No more global capitalism. Rather than serving big business
    politics you better look into your back garden. This message may help
    the confused French left address their current crisis. Unless some
    social justice is introduced into our national discourse, Europe would
    turn into hell. Don’t you forget, for many it is hell already.

    It isn’t a coincidence that Peretz came with such a message. Israel is
    ahead of Europe in terms of moral deterioration. Being an Americanised
    state, it has been suffering the impact of global politics for many
    years. Israel is but a mere microcosm of a ferocious cultural battle.
    Being at the forefront of the so-called ‘cultural clash’, Israel is the
    place where East meets West. Where the colonial meets the oppressed
    colonized. Where black meets white. Israel is the pain Western
    colonialism dispersed to the Arab world. The Israelis are the occupiers
    but at the same time they themselves are the first to suffer from being
    the carrier of those doomed policies.

    Israeli society is falling apart under the burden of many conflicting
    interests. On the one hand we can trace the liberal Western footprints
    of hard capitalism and privatisation. Israeli economy is run by big
    companies, that itself has led to a society obsessed with consumerism.
    On the other hand, we can see a rapidly growing economic gap between the
    rich and the poor, something that evolved into some serious social
    unrest. The rise of Peretz is a direct reaction to global capitalism.
    The Local grass-roots hero is apparently the best answer to the faceless
    Global enemy.

    It is hard capitalism and global interests that may make Amir Peretz
    into Israel’s next Prime Minister. It becomes clear that the only way to
    confront global capitalism is to fight it locally and socially. This is
    what the Israeli Labour party has decided to do. Wisely, they dumped
    their old globalist Peres in favour of a man of the people. In the next
    election the Israeli people will have to choose between the hard
    capitalistic vision of the notorious Netanyahu and the call for social
    transformation and equality led by Mr Peretz.

    I allow myself to assume that this is where Europe is aiming. The
    turbulence within the Labour backbenches that led to Blair’s defeat in
    the House of Commons less than a week ago, points out that it is the
    local concerns that will eventually topple Blair rather than his
    numerous war crimes in Iraq. Unless France endorses a sincere social
    attitude, it is aiming towards civil war. If the European parliamentary
    left is interested in rescuing itself as well as Europe from a complete
    defeat to American values of greed and radical egotism, it may want to
    explore Peretz’s moves in the coming months. The only way for the
    European left to survive this doomed era is to detach itself immediately
    from big business politics. To address a particular social strategy that
    addresses the unique local discourse and circumstances of what is left
    of the national state.

    -----------------------------------------------------------

    A Moroccan to Head Labor?

    By: Alon Abutbul

    The truth must told: Our Ashkenazi brothers in the Labor Party can't
    stomach the thought that a dark-skinned Moroccan, with a thick mustache
    to boot, could possibly lead the party.

    At the moment of truth, they all folded and fell in behind the Old Man.
    They are trying to stop the clock. Anything but change.

    It's obvious. Most people harbor a deep-rooted fear of change.

    But the Labor Party is sick. It's got a chronic disease, but refuses to
    die. At the same time, it refuses to live. It desperately needs change.

    How many people I know well will vote today for the Labor Party today!
    Once we sat together, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, dreaming of revolution
    within the party. Together, we hoped, planned, and looked for ways to
    turn this faltering party into a real political force, offering a real
    alternative to the existing government.

    Together, we discussed ways to change the face of the Labor Party, ways
    to bring quality young people into the party and to fight our revulsion
    from politics and politicians.

    We talked about beating apathy and despair and corruption. We wanted a
    real voice in the party, influence and to make our lives here in Israel
    better, for ourselves and for our children.

    We tried to find original ways to meld the old with the new, and we all
    agreed it was time to rid ourselves of Shimon Peres. His time has
    passed; we just didn't know just who to should take his place. It's a
    real crisis of leadership. We'd hoped to find new blood before we, too,
    get old.

    It's unbelievable, but the same people who came seeking real change will
    stand today at the voting booth to vote for a man whose honor, like his
    shame, are long gone. It is complete insanity.

    On the other hand, I can imagine how all this happened - the process by
    which they changed their minds and abandoned their demands for radical
    change – because they've had enough of the bureaucratic politics of the
    Labor Party – to adopt a conservative, fearful position.

    And when I ask for reasons, they mumble, "I don't want to see Amir
    Peretz head the party." And when I ask why not, I hear, "Amir Peretz
    will send the party backwards, to the days of (now-defunct Labor
    predecessor) Mapai."

    And we are left with a paradox: The archaic Peres, well into his 80s, is
    perceived as modern and enlightened, while Peretz, a man in his 50s,
    full of life, at the height of his strength and energy, a man who
    represents action, a representative who is relevant and modern, in all
    areas – political, social and economic- and who brought new color and
    fresh voice to the Labor Party, is viewed as someone who will drive the
    party backwards. Amazing.

    It's incredible how when the moment of truth arrives, all of kinds of
    excuses suddenly appear to explain how and why the representative from
    Sderot, who speaks loud and clear and with a terrific accent, will drive
    the party backwards. He's primitive, no?

    Without question, they will say: Peretz sent Abutbul to raise the ethnic
    ghost (as if Abutbul must certainly not have capable of independent
    thought. How could he? He's primitive, no?)

    But it's not true. Peretz couldn't, and wouldn't want, to bring up the
    ethnic issue.

    My brothers: you Ashkenazim have an ethnic ghost to deal with. He jumps
    and disrupts, warns and threatens, every time that Peretz, or any other
    Sephardi comes close to a real place of influence in the party.

    Maybe this time you won't be afraid of change. Don't be afraid of the
    black man.

    From Ynet News, November 9, 2005
    -----------------------------------------------------------

    Peretz Vows to Achieve Peace, Security for Israel

    By: Yair Ettniger, Mazal Mualem and Daniel Ben-Simon

    Several hours after he was announced as the new leader of the Labor
    Party, Histadrut Chairman Amir Peretz on Thursday returned to his
    political roots to outline his political vision as the Labor candidate
    for premiership.

    The victory is an unexpected result and a blow to the Labor old guard by
    Histadrut labor federation chairman Amir Peretz who was named Thursday
    morning the new chairman of the Labor Party, defeating the incumbent and
    favorite, Vice Premier Shimon Peres.

    Speaking near the grave of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin at the
    Mount Hertzl cemetery in Jerusalem, Peretz stressed that reaching a
    peace accord with the Palestinians is at the top of his political
    priority list.

    "We will not rest until we reach a permanent agreement (with the
    Palestinians) that would secure a safe future for our children and that
    would provide us with renewed hope to live in a region where people lead
    a life of cooperation and not, God forbid, where blood is shed from time
    to time," Peretz said.

    The new Labor chairman emphasized this move is a direct continuation of
    Rabin's political heritage: "I came today to make a vow to Rabin, once
    again, that I intend to do everything I can to continue his way, I
    intend to do everything I can so that [Rabin's] assassin would know he
    failed to murder peace."

    Peretz recounted his long tenure as a loyal supporter of the late prime
    minister: "I was by Rabin's side in the days he struggled for his place
    in Israeli politics, I was with him in his days of isolation, and also
    in the days of overwhelming support from the people of Israel when they
    flooded him with warmth and admiration. I was also next to him on that
    dreadful night when we lost Yitzhak (Rabin) in the murder that shocked
    Israel and sought to severe and end his life and his way."

    Soon after the official results were announced, the new Labor chief
    quickly reiterated his intention of pulling the party out of Prime
    Minister Ariel Sharon's government, propelling the country into
    political disarray and advancing the likelihood of early general
    elections.

    "We will notify the prime minister that we want to leave. We want to
    leave... certainly out of a desire to turn the Labor Party into an
    alternative that intends to take power in the next elections," he said.

    "Amir will discuss with the prime minister an agreed date for an
    election," said Yuli Tamir, a Labor legislator and Peretz supporter.

    Winner of a tightly-run race

    The voting result, which came at dawn, followed a tightly-run race
    between the two opponents, which initially showed a slight lead for
    Peres.

    Peretz, a fiery union leader, wants to steer the party back to its
    socialist roots, pull out of the coalition and force early elections.
    His message has resonated with Israelis disenfranchised by government
    cuts in social spending and the country's growing gap between rich and
    poor.

    Shortly after 6 A.M., amid cheering from Peretz's supporters, Labor
    Secretary-General Eitan Cabel announced that Peretz had won with 42.35
    percent of the votes, while Peres was backed by 39.96 percent of voters.
    In third place was Benjamin Ben Eliezer, with 16.82 percent of the vote.

    Cabel was quick to rebuff claims of fraud and irregularities in the
    elections, which caused Peres to issue a last minute call for a halt in
    the count.

    The release of the vote's final results was stalled by several hours as
    the Labor election committee, led by Cabel, headed early Thursday
    morning to the vote counting center in Petah Tikva after several claims
    of fraud in polling stations.

    Peres appeals against results

    In a pre-dawn press conference, Peres called on Labor's legal
    institutions to look into claims of severe irregularities in polling
    stations in Sderot and Be'er Sheva, two Peretz strongholds.

    Some of the vote results "raised exceptional doubts," Peres said. "It is
    unreasonable that in communities where I had a majority I have now
    dropped to seven votes."

    "I expected a better evening," Peres said.

    Sitting alongside Peres, former prime minister Ehud Barak said the
    outcome of the primaries did not reflect the will of the party's voters.

    But several hours later, the election committee announced it had
    rejected Peres' claims of fraud and okayed the completing of the
    counting of the votes in the remaining 13 polling stations from a total
    of 318.

    Peretz did not immediately respond to the accusations, but his
    supporters were already claiming victory.

    The Peretz camp erupted into celebrations when the Histadrut chief took
    the lead in the vote count early Thursday, and Israel Radio said he was
    headed to party headquarters to make an announcement. The uncounted
    districts were believed to favor Peretz, and Israeli radio stations said
    his victory was imminent.

    Implications for government

    The outcome of the vote will have wide-ranging implications for the
    future of Sharon's shaky governing coalition, in which Labor is the
    junior member.

    Peres had said that he would keep Labor in the government until the next
    elections scheduled in November 2006.

    The 82-year-old politician led Labor into the government this year to
    shore up support for Sharon's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The
    pullout divided Sharon's Likud Party, and without Labor support, the
    plan could not have been carried out.

    From Haaretz, November 10, 2005