Ehud Barak has set a trap for himself. And because he is brilliant, the trap was so good that hepromptly fell into it. To quote Psalm 7 (16): “He made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into theditch which he made.”
For many months now he has been spreading the mantra: “I have turned every stone on the way topeace.”I have given the Palestinians much more than any previous Israeli Prime Minister. Butthe evil Arafat (also the devious, treacherous terrorist, the corrupt liar who breaks everypromise and violates every agreement) refuses my unprecedentedly generous offer. Insteadof kissing both my hands and signing an agreement to end the historic conflict, he started toshoot, blow up, murder and butcher us.
Addressing the right-wing he spreads the opposite message: “I haven ‘ t given anything atall.” The weakling Netanyahu has given them 19% of the West Bank and most of the town of Hebron. Iam tough and haven ‘ t given them back even one square yard. Nothing, nothing at all!
Now Barak intends to combine these two messages and to contest the elections both as the manwho-has-turned-every-stone and has-not-given-back-anything.
In order to reinforce the first message, he sends somebody to meet Arafat every day: theinnocent Lipkin-Shahak, the not-so-innocent but willing Shlomo Ben-Ami and others. (Hewanted to send Ami Ayalon too, but being an honest person, the former Security Service chiefrequested to see the files first, and after studying them for four hours declined to go.) Barakhas read the polls that show that the majority of Israelis desire peace, and he is telling them:See, even in the middle of an election campaign, and even while Arafat is butchering us, Icontinue turning every stone. That ‘ s how I am, a peace-maker!
And at the same time he sends word to the right-wing: “Trust me, I won ‘ t give them anything,” andcontinues enlarging the settlements at a frantic pace and “liquidating” Palestinianactivists wholesale, in the style of Pinochet ‘ s death squads.
This may all look sophisticated. But in practice, it ensures his defeat by whoever standsagainst him.
There is a simple reason for it: The real leftists know that Barak ‘ s right-wing message istrue, and that he indeed has not given back an inch. Therefore they will not vote for him. Whilethe rightists and the bulk of the center really do believe the left-wing message, that he hasmade the Palestinians an incredibly generous offer, giving in to all their demands, and thatthey refused and then opened fire. Therefore, it is obvious that the Palestinians do not wantpeace. They only want to kill Jews, as we knew all the time. If so, the Likud has been right allalong, and one must vote for Netanyahu or Sharon.
The truth is, of course, that the first mantra is totally mendacious. Barak ‘ s proposals aremanifestly unacceptable to the Palestinians. Contrary to the story spread by his “leftist”agents, that he will settle for 5% of the West Bank and is ready to give back all the rest, heproposes to annex immediately 11% of the territory, in the form of “settlement blocs” that cutthe West Bank up from north to south and from west to east. In addition, he wants to annex theJewish areas near Jerusalem. Also, he intends to keep “temporarily” the “back of themountains” along the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Only a fool would believe that in the distantfuture, after the Palestinians have already signed a declaration ending the conflict, whenevery square yard will be covered by a settlement, Israel will return these territories.
The practical upshot of this is that in his most generous offer, near the end of thenegotiations, Barak intends to annex 30% of the West Bank. Since all the occupied territoriesamount to only 22% of the pre-1948 Palestine, Barak is ready to give back to the Palestiniansonly 15% of the country (70% of 22%), and these, too, only in the form of disconnected enclaves,each of which will be surrounded by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
At Camp David, Barak thought that the Palestinians would swallow this bitter pill if hesugar-coated it with nice words about Jerusalem. He did indeed break an Israeli taboo and madeverbal concessions there. But when the Palestinians took a magnifying glass and examined theoffer closely, they found out that the changes were mainly cosmetic. The sovereignty – andthat ‘ s what counts – was left with Israel.
Summing up: Barak did not make an offer that the Palestinians could accept. The leftiststone-turning is make-believe, while the rightist wink is the real truth: He indeed did notgive up anything.
Actually, one could offer the Likud some advice: If you folks can ‘ t make up your minds betweenNetanyahu and Sharon, why not take Barak? He does the same, and, contrary to the other two, hemakes the whole world believe him.
Trouble is, the right-wing people and the bogus left-wingers believe the story of Barak ‘ sstone-turning and Arafat ‘ s Jew-killing, and therefore will vote against Barak, while thereal left and the Arab citizens know the truth and therefore will not vote for him.
Out of sheer sophistication, Barak will find himself falling between all the stools.