Sharon's presumed policy is essentially that envisioned by Barak (top)
Photo: Tomeriko
_a.jpg "Photo: Eli Elgarat")
Appears to be fighting a losing battle. Bibi
Photo: Eli Elgarat
Losing the battle, winning the war
Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu contributed greatly to Israeli society
Winning a battle but losing the war is considered a "pyrrhic victory," named after the Greek army that beat the Romans in a battle after suffering tremendous losses.
How do we call a loss in battle that opens the door to long-term victory? Seems to me there is no such expression. But there should be, to describe two political rivals whose stars are on the way to becoming extinguished: Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.
Barak: Smaller Israel
Barak had the guts to offer Arafat a withdrawal to more-or-less the 1967 borders. This proposal seared into the Israeli consciousness a cognitive map that will one day become reality.
He forced us to come to terms with what some of us knew deep down but could not bring ourselves to admit: This is just about as much land as we can hold on to.
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He was not the first to have understood the limits of our power, but he was the first prime minister to say in plain Hebrew that the occupied territories are not a valuable jewel to be traded for peace, but rather a liability we must free ourselves of.
When the Palestinians refused his offer and attacked us, he adopted an obvious alternative: withdrawing to defense lines that would serve our needs while leaving a territorial reserve that would allow for negotiations in future.
Dividing Jerusalem
The degree to which this has taken root was made clear by a survey earlier this month that showed about half of all Israelis would be prepared to divide Jerusalem in the context of a peace deal. And if these are the numbers at a time when there is no peace treaty on the horizon, there is no question that a solid majority would support dividing the city when the issue comes up in actual negotiations.
Sharon's presumed policy is essentially that envisioned by Barak. But Sharon is an experienced politician, who understands better than Barak how to bring the public to the oasis: Slowly, with hints and winks, all the while securing the political home front.
Barak lost the battle, but bettered our chances of winning the war for a democratic country in which a majority of citizens are Jewish.
Netanyahu: Economic reality
Netanyahu, who accuses Sharon of planning to divide Jerusalem, appears to be fighting a losing battle.
But Netanyahu has been successful and at the same time has been humiliated in a different arena: Economics.
For the first time in his political career, he has demonstrated a willingness to swim against the tide of public opinion, adopting policies as finance minister that significantly weakened the support his traditional voters had managed to garner for him.
His enemies, including former government colleagues who nodded in agreement to his economic policies whilst serving together in government now whinge about their lack of compassion and promise to "fix" what Netanyahu has done.
They will do this with money the country wouldn't have had were it not for his policies. The benefits of these policies are there for all to see, but even more important: They did away with an approach too prevalent in Israeli society: That the country must provide not only for those who cannot earn enough to support their families, but also those who choose not to do so.
What Netanyahu did was no less than destroy a paradigm that stood to destroy our economy and our society.
Since 1988, welfare payouts in Israel have risen steadily. Were it not for Netanyahu's reforms, in several years the country would have had more welfare recipients than wage earners.
Hitting hard
Like Barak, Netanyahu hit too hard and hurt too many people. Because of this, it will be hard for him to return to his former job, perhaps ever. But his loss saved the economy, and points to the path in which it should continue to be managed.
Barak's and Netanyahu's political fates are classic examples of historical irony. Frequently it is paid back by a plethora of people, as in the Ariel Sharon example, the man who caused more damage than any other active politician, and spits in the face of those who helped us a lot.
Sometimes the "minister of history" awaits them, but frequently he forgets to remind us of their contributions, for he, too, is influenced by the whims of public opinion.
Yaron London is a regular contributor to Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth
