Israeli crisis cause of present impasse with Palestinians
Palestinian negotiators expressed skepticism over chances to move even one step forward in peace talks with Israel, noting that none of the Israeli delegates who have lately met with their Palestinian counterparts had come to those meetings with "even one single authorization" to discuss the matters raised in those sessions. "We feel the Israeli government is playing with time and wants to waste as much time as possible without having to take any practical steps towards the implementation of the outstanding clauses of the interim agreement," said a senior Palestinian source who attended the Monday meeting between PLO Executive Committee member Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) with both Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross.
The source said nothing is really moving forward and noted that Israel has rejected Palestinian demands to open the Gaza International Airport and to the free passage between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He noted that the Israeli team negotiating the airport issue insisted on very old demands which Israel presented in the beginning when it asked for full security control over the airport. Israel, he said, wanted the Gaza International Airport to operate like the two crossing points on Allenby (Karameh) Bridge with Jordan and Rafah with Egypt.
The source blamed the present impasse not only on Israel's intransigence to achieve a breakthrough but also to the inner crises that the Israeli government is facing. "Judging from how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is functioning, one can easily say he should have a rotating door to his cabinet through which ministers can go in an out whenever their boss feels like it," the source said. He was referring to the latest crisis between Netanyahu and a number of his ministers.
Only a few weeks ago, after Netanyahu got stuck with the failed Mossad operation in Jordan and the aborted assassination attempt of Hamas political bureau chief in Amman, Khaled Mishal, the Israeli prime minister had to rely on the full support of both minister of national infrastucture, Ariel Sharon, and the minister of defense, Yizhak Mordachai. Those two ministers were seemingly the only cabinet members who were ready to side with Netanyahu.
At that time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs David Levy was excluded not only from the inner cabinet but also from all the discussions that preceded and followed the failed Mossad operation in Amman. He felt hurt and betrayed, and his aides said he seriously considered resignation. His threat to resign, however, has never been taken seriously. Every Tuesday and Thursday, the foreign minister would threaten he was on the verge of leaving the government only to switch positions later and to become the arch supporter of Netanyahu and the most wholehearted defender of his policies.
Now, it is Levy who is inside and Sharon is not. Signs of a new government crisis have appeared with statements attributed to Sharon describing how angry he is for being excluded lately from all deliberations of the inner cabinet, which Netanyahu prefers to call his policy kitchen. Sharon is angry at the way he was deceived and pushed out of the narrow security-political ‘kitchen cabinet,’ which again included only Levy and Mordechai in Sunday's meeting. Political sources in Israel said this was Netanyahu's way to appease Levy, who is still upset over the Mishal fiasco in Jordan.
After a brief honeymoon in the relationship between Netanyahu and Sharon, the highlight of which was Sharon’s mediation in the Mishal affair, tension is again building between the two. Netanyahu surprisingly canceled Sharon’s invitation to the security kitchen cabinet meeting, despite the fact that the defense and foreign ministers were invited. Last week, Netanyahu called for a security cabinet meeting with Mordechai, Levy, Sharon and trade minister Nathan Sharansky, where they were supposed to discuss the continuation of peace negotiations with the Palestinians and the implication of the Mishal affair. Sharon and Sharansky arrived, but Mordechai and Levy were absent. They were unenthusiastic about the recent rapprochement between Netanyahu and Sharon.
The Prime Minister set a new date for the consultation, but again decided to postpone it until Sunday. On Saturday night, the Prime Minister’s office told Sharon and Sharansky’s secretaries the meeting was canceled. In the end, however, Netanyahu held a three-way consultation with David Levy and Yitzhak Mordechai. Sharon was amazed. Only two weeks ago, he enlisted to extricate Netanyahu from the mess of the failed assassination attempt in Jordan and now Netanyahu was turning his back on him. Political sources assess the exclusion of Sharon from the kitchen cabinet meeting as aimed at softening the new crisis in the prime minister’s relations with David Levy. Levy’s threats of resignation following the Mishal affair and the deadlock in the peace process have frightened Netanyahu, the sources said.
Netanyahu’s aides said it appears the crisis with David Levy is over and the meeting between them on Sunday was good. But sources close to Levy said the celebration at the prime minister’s office was premature. “No crisis has been solved yet,” the sources said, adding that the foreign minister has nothing to do with the sudden exclusion of Sharon from the kitchen cabinet and he did not know Sharon was not invited.
Sharon for his part maintained a stormy silence, but in closed conversations expressed deep concern with the political and diplomatic situation and with the decision-making process in Netanyahu’s government.
Besides, an internal strife is also apparent in the preparations for Netanyahu's Likud convention in early November. Senior Likud members believe Netanyahu will attempt to change the method of selecting candidates for the Knesset elections, in an attempt to eliminate some of his enemies and ensure positions for his close aides and other Likud members who prove to be sufficiently loyal to him.
The countdown to the Likud Convention has had a stormy beginning. Senior party members said that Netanyahu, who is also the party chairman, is cheating the party and intends to change the system for choosing candidates for the next Knesset, and thus eliminate his enemies.
Three thousand delegates are supposed to attend the Likud Convention, slated for November 9. They will choose the party organs for the next four years. They are also entitled to vote on changes to the party rules. In the past few days an unofficial suggestion for changing the rules arose proposing the cancellation of the primaries and transferring the authority to elect Knesset candidates to the party center, where Netanyahu is believed to have a strong influence.