I don't know Israeli society, and I would like to be wrong about the degree of extremism in it, but it's hard to explain the endless colonization of the West Bank without concluding that extremists have power in that society. Then too–further rationalization for what's about to follow–Israel's in crisis, and it's important to look at that crisis with a cold eye, but the media in the U.S. tend to overlook the rightwing radicalism that paralyzes the government. Though the Times has been catching up lately. Enough throat-clearing. Here's a piece on Tzipi Livni in the Middle East Report by Peretz Kidron that argues that Livni is too claimed by the right to try to undo the settlements.
What struck me was Kidron's conspiratorial take on Olmert's exit:
But the allegations against
Olmert relate largely to peccadilloes not entirely uncommon in
Israel’s ruling circles, evoking puzzlement over the relentless
pursuit that ultimately brought him down. One theory argues that
the eagerness of law enforcement agencies was tacitly supported
and perhaps even instigated by far-right groups outraged over
Olmert’s apparent intention to follow in the footsteps of his
mentor and predecessor in office, Ariel Sharon, by ordering a
unilateral withdrawal from extensive portions of the occupied
West Bank, in a pattern laid down by Sharon’s “disengagement”
of Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in August
2005. Any such “surrender” of territory within the divinely Promised
Land is regarded as anathema by far-right fanatics and religious
zealots. Their anger has already led to the assassination of
one prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who was gunned down in 1995
by a militant because of his willingess to strike a land-for-peace
deal with the Palestinians. If this speculation about a right-wing
conspiracy is indeed correct, Olmert can count himself lucky
to have escaped with his life, being required merely to offer
up his political office.
