Time to say goodbye

Op-ed: Kadima party, Syria peace fans found their way to dustbin of history, thankfully

Hanoch Daum|Published: 09.26.11 , 10:17

First, a political eulogy: Once upon a time there used to be a party around here – yet now it no longer exists. Indeed, these are the last months of Kadima. That party, which was established with a great bang, will be dying off as early as the next elections.

Kadima shall leave behind it bitter memories of a failed war, a top political brass found guilty of criminal offenses and an arrogant leader with a dour personality.

Tough Critic

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In the next elections, when the Labor Party (under Shelly Yacimovich’s leadership) and the renewed Shinui party (under Yair Lapid’s leadership?) win an accumulated 35 Knesset seats or so, Kadima shall turn into a comical footnote with a single-digit total of Knesset seats.

This is certainly bad news for Ms. Livni, who received an opportunity to form a government but arrogantly chose to go to elections. Yet this is good news for Israel’s political establishment, which shall be graced with bold and innovative ideological parties.

‘Missed opportunity’

And now, a diplomatic eulogy: Once upon a time there used to be a peace movement around here that aspired to secure a peace treaty with Syria – yet now it no longer exists.

I recently read Major General (res.) Uri Saguy’s book on our peace talks with Syria. The (fascinating) book describes the “great missed opportunity. Oh, how close we were to the moment where we would have returned the Golan Heights - - including the Sea of Galilee - to President Hafez al-Assad in exchange for peace.

Without a hint of cynicism, it is amazing to discover how lucky we were, and how some 10 years ago we were so close to making such critical mistake. Had we proceeded with it, this error could have positioned us in the near future vis-à-vis a belligerent northern front, in a position of terrible military inferiority, without warning stations on Hermon Mount and without controlling the Golan.

Now, I am wondering when Israel’s leftist camp will be admitting that we were graced with a great miracle – by not signing an agreement to withdraw from the Golan Heights during Ehud Barak’s premiership (hint: It shall never happen.)