Eitan Haber
צילום: שלום בר טל
Recipe for victory
Labor, Kadima can win elections by joining forces, stressing centrist views
Just yesterday, our local pharmacy ran out of tissues; otherwise we would have bought many packs in order to wipe our tears over the Labor Party's cruel fate. On Tuesday, the party marked 80 years of existence, yet it was mostly being eulogized on radio shows.
Indeed, the Labor Party is not doing well, and its current leader, Ehud Barak, is being hit from all directions – however, in the State of Israel no party and no leader are dead until their actual demise. Ariel Sharon once said: "In politics, you are sometimes up and sometimes down; the trick is to stay on the big wheel." Does anyone remember how many Knesset members Likud had less than two years ago?
This long introduction is meant to stress that it is very early to eulogize Kadima and Labor despite their currently grave state. The national sport at this time is to slam Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak. However, should the trend of voters to shift to the center of the political spectrum continue (and it will continue,) as happened in the last five elections, Kadima and Labor can join forces and become the ruling parties.
Sounds like a joke, doesn't it? Well, I personally know some very important people who were laughing their heads off when they were told that one of these days Ariel Sharon will become prime minister.
The secret of a possible elections victory has to do with Kadima's and Labor's ability to join forces. Separately, they are doomed. Likud at this time is a party that has hundreds of thousands of habitual voters. They will vote Likud even if it hands over the Western Wall to the Palestinians. In the face of such electoral mass, they only way to win (assuming one wants to win) is to create what is perceived as a centrist party.
Public seeks middle way
Many members of the public are seeking the middle way, after attempting both peace and a firm stand in support of the Land of Israel's integrity. It appears that at this time a decisive majority understands the need to stop ruling another people, which means giving up territory. Netanyahu now understands what Begin, Rabin, Sharon and Olmert understood a while ago.Assuming that the Likud does not change again, we can say that at this time it is a Center-Right party. Kadima is also on the same side of the political spectrum today; in order to distinguish itself from Likud, it must get rid of its rightist elements soon. It needs to fully become a centrist party and highlight the revolution undergone by its former rightist members. As long as Kadima tries to elicit rightist support, the original Right (that is, Likud) would be a worthier choice.
This is precisely what the Labor Party needs to do on the other end of the political spectrum. It needs to get rid of the leftist label, which so many Israelis despise.
So how is a merger between Kadima, an opposition party, and Labor, a coalition party, possible? How can Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak join forces? Who will be heading the party (maybe Shaul Mofaz?) How will such political miracle take place? Well, these questions reminds me of a former IDF general who once upon a time suggested, in jest, that we dry up the Sea of Galilee, to make it easier for the IDF to conquer Syrian territory. How will we do that? He was asked. "I came up with the idea," he responded. "The execution is your problem."
