Israel's Choice Of Pilot

Four months ago, after a fiercely contended election, Israel chose Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister in place of Shimon Peres. Netanyahu's victory was by a very narrow margin, reflecting an almost equal division of opinion in Israel between those prepared to take larger risks in hope of peace, and those whose concern for security makes them favour hard-line policies. Netanyahu is the chosen pilot to navigate Israel's course through stormy political seas for the next four years. This in spite of Shimon Peres' much wider political experience and international standing as holder of Nobel Peace award for his role as promoter of the Middle East peace process.

Shortly before the election he had authorized the 'Grapes of Wrath' onslaught on Hizbollah guerillas in Southern Lebanon, in an effort to offset the impression that he was too conciliatory and lacked decisiveness in responding to terrorism. Sadly the tragic shelling of a United Nations base in Qana, which resulted in many civilian casualties, proved counterproductive both among the Israeli electorate and in international opinion. How true the thoughts of Asaph in Psalm

75:

'We give thanks unto Thee, 0 God;

We give thanks, for Thy name is near...

For neither from the east, nor from the west,

Nor yet from the south, cometh lifting up.

But God is the judge:

He putteth down one, and lifteth up another'

(verses 1,6,7).

Whether on ancient battiefields or in all the sophistication of modern democratic elections, God is the judge, putting down one and lifting up another. Israel's marginal choice of Netanyahu through the ballot box was in divine overruling - still today God's name is near.

Owing to a constitutional change this was the first Israeli election in which the voting was two-fold: first, the choice of Prime Minister; second, election of members of Israel's parliament the Knesset. Because of this change, although Netanyahu is Prime Minister, only thirty-two of his own

Likud Party have been elected to the Knesset. Since he needs the support of at least sixty-one members to command a majority, he will be dependent on alliances with several of the smaller parties. This puts them in a very influential position. The religious parties will demand concessions to

promote their strict sabbatarian policies and their extreme demands about Jewish control of Jerusalem. Smaller secular groups will have their own quite different agenda in the bargaining process. Prime Minister Netanyahu seems likely to encounter much difficulty in handling the situation in the Knesset.

He is also left with the legacy of the Autonomous Palestinian Region in Gaza and the West Bank under the leadership of Yasser Arafat. This development was negotiated by Netanyahu's predecessor, and at the time Netanyahu expressed strong hostility to the idea. However, during the election he found it expedient to modify his attitude, declaring that he would respect existing agreements regarding Palestinian autonomy. They would continue to have freedom to run their own internal affairs. But he rejects Palestinian aspirations to have their own independent state, and refuses to countenance discussions about the future of Jerusalem. The Palestinians had hoped that the peace process would bring further developments in their favour on both these issues, and are bound to resent the stricter limitations of Netanyahu's policy.

As to the wider Middle East peace process, the new Israeli Prime Minister has adopted a harder line than Shimon Peres. In relation to Syria he repudiates the concept of 'land for peace', and uncompromisingly refuses to consider releasing the Golan Heights from Israel's control. Syria can have 'peace for peace', not 'land for peace'; and there will be firm pressure on Syria to restrain the Hizbollah movement in Southern Lebanon. It seems likely that Netanyahu's advent to power will make Israel's policies more abrasive and her international position more isolated.

'The powers that be are ordained of God', we read in Romans 13:1. His control of human affairs for the furtherance of divine purpose is strikingly referred to in Acts chapter 4:

'For of a truth in this city against Thy holy Servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel fore-ordained to come to pass' (verses 27, 28).

Faith recognizes this abiding principle in modern international affairs, however unlikely the human agents may seem. Reassuring thought!

unknown | Oct 1996
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