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Archivierte Meldungen aus den Jahren 1995 - 1999

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Caution: vagueness ahead

By Gideon Samet

It cannot be said that the next prime minister is distancing himself from his promises; but nor can it be said that he is sticking too closely to them. It is true that there are important matters about which he does not need to make declarations at present, but it certainly could have been expected that he would not fog them, either. A Palestinian state, for example.This caution stems from what looks like Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak's preference for general formulas in order to allow him greater flexibility later on. However, without clear formulations on the "big" issues, the opposite will result: the government will set out without knowing where it is heading.

Those who are hoping for things to move quickly are likely to be disappointed. In the interview Barak gave to Hannah Kim in Ha'aretz on Friday there are indications of the expected pace. There was an unwillingness to put things decisively or to commit to timetables. His statements were not in the tone of a firm message. "Things here will not be the same as they are in Holland or Belgium or Luxembourg in the coming 50 years," he said. A truism like this about the amount the time it will take to remove 100 years of enmity is nothing but an evasion.

As to his question why it is impossible to make peace with the Palestinians without pulling out of Ofra, "which is located next to one of our most strategic points," and from Ariel (because it "is Ariel") he is also evasive. They, he said, have Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem.

Yitzhak Rabin carried on with the peace process despite the terror attacks. His student says that terror would stop the process, and that he has no intention of making peace in its shadow.

A Palestinian state? Barak says he is not offering any predictions because he "is not a commentator." Wrong. In this matter, there is no commentator more important than he. In the matter of constitutional legislation he is also not giving rise to any great expectations. It will be possible to pass a number of the needed laws, he says, but others will prove difficult. Therefore, they must be completed gradually. This is an old story from the 1950s, when the Knesset accepted the opinion of the religious camp, opposed a constitution and decided on Basic Laws from which a constitution will eventually be stitched together. The natural expectation was that Barak's victory a month ago would revive the momentum of the legislation of Basic Laws at the beginning of the decade. Almost all of the major Basic Laws are ready for approval, but it increasingly looks as though Barak is in no hurry.

If this continues to be the formula, the big issues will loom in the coming months without the prime minister facing up to them with the urgency inferred from his promises of a change. The National Religious Party (NRP) will of course try to hinder things. Meretz, which swore to energize Rabin, might well wait outside. The extreme caution Barak has adopted will slow down the momentum. He is too vague.

Ever since his election, it has been possible to understand why he would prefer to put off dealing with the big tasks of peace and legislation until after his government stabilizes. They are not discussed in detail in the coalition negotiations he is conducting and certainly not by David Libai and his colleagues on the technical team. So as not to throw up obstacles, there is no more than general talk of the nature of ultra-Orthodox education, the mending of the ways in which ultra-Orthodox interests are funded (Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef wants deficits of NIS 100 million to be plugged), the details of constitutional legislation and the settlements beyond the Green Line.

The argument offered in defense of the technique of vagueness is that it is constructive. We are asked to wait patiently, as the business has not yet really got underway. But these watery formulations will not necessarily afford Barak more room to maneuver for the government of change. At present, a spell is being cast by the dramatic process of tying up the loose ends of the coalition package. Every rookie prime minister seeks a certain amount of unclarity so that he can pour his own contents into it. Often, this vagueness, which is supposedly intended only for the bargaining period, later shapes the contents. If Barak knows how to overcome this classic difficulty, but just isn't saying so, good for him.

Die hier archivierten Artikel stammen aus den "Anfangsjahren" der breiten Nutzung des Internet. Damals waren die gestalterischen Möglichkeiten noch etwas ursprünglicher als heute. Wir haben die Artikel jedoch weiterhin archiviert, da die Informationen durchaus noch interessant sein können, u..a. auch zu Dokumentationszwecken.


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