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• December 2005

• General [5]

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Alon Ben-Meir—December 12, 2005

I have just returned from a week-long trip to Israel and Palestine during which I met with many Israeli and Palestinian officials, intellectuals, and ordinary people. This article is the second in a series of articles written with the hope of shedding some new light on many conflicting issues at a time when revolutionary changes are sweeping the political landscape in both societies.

With the creation of a new political entity, the Kadima Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Sharon, Israel may have just entered a revolutionary political era that will transform the country’s political landscape as far as the eye can see. Kadima, it is hoped, will answer the longing of an overwhelming majority of Israelis for an agreement that will bring lasting peace. Kadima distinguishes itself from all previous centrist parties in two critical ways: It has Sharon’s strong leadership and tested capability as well as a clear political platform. It is entirely possible that the political earthquake produced by its creation may eventually lead to an accord with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution.

Kadima is the product of Israelis finally coming to terms with the harsh demographic reality that Likud and many other right-of-center parties have long denied. Likud, as an amalgam of revisionist Zionist parties, has clung to its principle ideology of greater Israel and failed to recognize the shift of demographic balance in favor of the Palestinians, which makes any continued occupation simply unsustainable. Largely because of this shift, the momentum for a one-state solution is intensifying, with many Palestinians beginning to see it as their only way to regain all of Palestine by democratic means, a Palestine that would inevitably be governed by a Palestinian majority. As Asher Susser, the Director of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, pointed out to me during my recent trip to Israel, “The Palestinians do not have the same sense of urgency; they realize Israel is vulnerable and they see the numbers.