Election Day

Yesterday, as you may know, was election day. And given the importance of recent events, I think it merits a post and some thought. If you haven't had a chance to read up on the candidates, this is one of the better collection of their profiles.

While unofficial, it seems as though Kadima (Forward) received 28 votes, Likud (Consilidation) got 27, Beit Yisrael (Israel Our Home) received 15, Labour got 13, and the rest of the 120 seats are dispersed among smaller parties on both the left and right. Perhaps the biggest development, even though few were surprised, was the usurpation of the Labour party by Beit Yisrael. When Israel was first founded, Labour dominated the Knesset for several decades until the rise of Likud. Beit Yisrael was established only ten years ago in response to the Wye Accords and its success apparently reflects a move of Israeli's to the right.

If we were to place the four parties on a political spectrum from left to right, there would be Labour, Kadima in the center, and then Likud and Beit Yisrael. Despite Kadima's plurality, it looks as though its leader, Tzipi Livni, will be unable to form a coalition government from the results (especially if the smaller rightest parties outnumber their left counterparts). This means that President Shimon Peres may ask Netanyahu, the leader of Likud to form a government instead, which there is precedent for (and thanks to Israel's lack of a constitution, he can ask whoever he think will have the most success).

The prospect of a Likud headed government with a strong B.Y. presence personally worries me for the effect that it could have on Palestinians living both in Israel and Palestine. The recent Israeli offensive in Gaza was initiated by the current government that consists of mostly Labout and Kadima members who were, in part, attempting to sway voters worried about security to them instead of Likud and Beit Yisrael. It sort of worked, but not really (as the results clearly show). Since the overwhelming majority of Israeli's supported what happened in Gaza, at least initially, I fear that with a rightist coalition, the situation could get worse before it gets better. Perhaps one man's opinion (and I do realize that this is only one man) embodies what scares me:

"There was a time when we would give up every time the Arabs made trouble," he said. "That's over now, and we're going to take a tougher line with them." (JPost).