Feted author Amos Oz says new leftist party will replace Labor

[oberliner]

"I hope the expanded leftist movement will become a replacement for the Labor Party," author Amos Oz told Haaretz on Saturday. "The Labor Party has finished its historic role, it isn't putting forward a national agenda and it joins any coalition," Oz said. He was among 30 intellectuals and public figures who attended the Tel Aviv press conference Friday at which the official launch of a new left-wing party modeled after Meretz was announced.

Referring to the refusal by Labor Party chairman Ehud Barak to commit to not joining a coalition headed by Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, Oz said "For many years there has been a large gap between what the Labor Party says and what it does." He added that he hoped the new bloc's potential can be translated into a Knesset list consisting of Meretz members, ex-Laborites, environmentalists, supporters of Dov Khenin in the just-finished Tel Aviv mayoral elections, Reform Jews and Arabs.

The new party has apparently not yet carried out a poll to judge the degree of public support it can expect. "I always think in double-digit numbers," Meretz chairman Haim Oron said Friday. The new party doesn't yet have a new name. In light of the desire of new members for "rebranding," alternatives, the "Meretz" name will be evaluated in the coming days.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037560.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. Very interesting. I like Amos Oz! I hope such a party gets somewhere.

[shira]

2. it won't be leftist enough for some

here's why:

===========================

Why Arafat must take the blame
by Amos Oz

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/oct/13/comment.israelandthepalestinians1

<snip>

"Mr Arafat is a colossal tragedy for both peoples. He has allowed the newly created Palestinian authority to sink in corruption, and he has incited his people against Israel and against the Jews. Finally, he has initiated this recent burst of hateful violence, in an attempt to inspire a raging fury all over the Arab and Islamic world to start a jihad, a holy war, against the Jews.

As I listen to the rhetoric of the Palestinian official state and media, and of the Arafatesque intellectuals, I am hardly surprised by the lynching committed in Ramallah. The Palestinian people are suffocated and poisoned by blind hate."

============================

When liberals articulate the message above, they're accused of being closet Israel-First RW'ers spewing hate propaganda.

Just in case Amos Oz (of Peace Now) isn't too leftist enough, there's Shlomo ben Ami (of J-Street now):
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/home/comartin/israel/ben-ami.html

Shlomo ben Ami's story about CD/Taba parallels Amos Oz's recollection and therefore may as well be labeled AIPAC propaganda according to some here. And then there's Dennis Ross. Bill Clinton. Alan Dershowitz. All their recollections of CD/Taba are straight out of AIPAC too, according to the accusers (those who only criticize). And Ross is now on board with Obama. Hillary is Sec. of State. Dershowitz remains VERY close to Hillary. There's Rahm Emanuel.

Not left enough. They don't "get it". They may as well be RW'ers.

Just like some progressives are accused of here.

[azurnoir]

3. Ah yeah whatever

but please never ever miss a chance to condemn Leftists I guess leftist and liberal are still dirty words to some.

And Dershowitz wow celebrating a man who made fame and fortune getting wife killers acquitted, such an esteemed lineup.

[shira]

4. yeah whatever

i don't condemn leftists and progressives.....only the phony ones....let's face it, you disagree mightily with every single progressive I cited in that last post. Their positions on I/P more closely resemble the positions here that you fight daily against.

[azurnoir]

6. Do I show me were I have expressly disagreed with Amos Oz

come up with a comment where I have said that I disagree with Amos Oz.

[shira]

9. do you agree with Oz here:

"Mr Arafat is a colossal tragedy for both peoples. He has allowed the newly created Palestinian authority to sink in corruption, and he has incited his people against Israel and against the Jews. Finally, he has initiated this recent burst of hateful violence, in an attempt to inspire a raging fury all over the Arab and Islamic world to start a jihad, a holy war, against the Jews.

As I listen to the rhetoric of the Palestinian official state and media, and of the Arafatesque intellectuals, I am hardly surprised by the lynching committed in Ramallah. The Palestinian people are suffocated and poisoned by blind hate."

[shira]

18. hey, where'd you go, AZ?

do you agree with Oz's statement? Here it is again:

==========================================
"Mr Arafat is a colossal tragedy for both peoples. He has allowed the newly created Palestinian authority to sink in corruption, and he has incited his people against Israel and against the Jews. Finally, he has initiated this recent burst of hateful violence, in an attempt to inspire a raging fury all over the Arab and Islamic world to start a jihad, a holy war, against the Jews.

As I listen to the rhetoric of the Palestinian official state and media, and of the Arafatesque intellectuals, I am hardly surprised by the lynching committed in Ramallah. The Palestinian people are suffocated and poisoned by blind hate."
==========================================

That's Amos Oz, not RW hate propaganda.

Now do you agree with Amos Oz?

[Violet_Crumble]

10. Can't say I've ever seen you do that....

OTOH, there's a few folk here whose views on particular aspects of the conflict are pretty much the opposite of those held by Oz....

[shira]

13. well....

AZ is about to disagree with Oz's quote right now....as are you. That is, if you 2 remain consistent in your views.

[azurnoir]

5. delete

[shira]

7. come on

Barak pulled all offers from Taba off the table because that's exactly where he believed (and Oz and ben-Ami too) that the PA leadership would want to pick up from in the next round of negotiations.

[azurnoir]

8. wrong thread dear the comment was deleted because of that

[Violet_Crumble]

11. Would this thread make any more sense if I took 'Ignored' off ignore?

I'm suspecting not :)

[azurnoir]

17. No not really

sorry I missed you.

[LeftishBrit]

12. I am not a particular fan of Dershowitz...

but surely it is the job of any lawyer to represent their clients, so long as they don't commit perjury or other crime? Having some bad people acquitted is the price we have to pay for ensuring that everyone has the right to a lawyer and to be defended.

[IndianaGreen]

15. Dershowitz openly supported rendition and torture

He is an enabler of crimes against humanity.

[azurnoir]

16. It was a rhetorical point

if Dersowitzs position was the reverse it would have been being shrieked from say one, just imagine with his record if he were defending Palestinian causes coupled with the fact that most Palestinians are Muslim, one need not stretch far.

[IndianaGreen]

14. New leftist party must call for the toppling of Israeli ruling class!

Israeli capitalism is in serious crisis. Israel used to be a country where unemployment was hardly known. Even many Palestinians would daily cross the border to go and work in Israel. In the last decade or so unemployment in Israel has shot up beyond the 10% mark. The government has been attacking all the social rights of the workers in Israel, from pensions to healthcare to education. Parallel to this, the borders of Israel have been closed to Palestinian migrant workers. These have been replaced by poor immigrants from other parts of the world. This has thrown the Palestinian workers into a desperate state.

This is the underlying social condition that explains the growing tension. The problem the Israeli ruling class, the Israeli capitalists, are faced with is that they cannot offer the workers of Israel anything better. The same applies to the Palestinian people. What can they offer them if they cannot even guarantee their own people decent living conditions?

http://www.marxist.com/barbarism-israeli-ruling-class130706.htm

[henank]

19. Pffft!

Reduced to getting statistics from Marxism Today? LOLOLOL!

Israel Unemployment Rates (7.6% for those who are interested in genuine statistics, not made up ones}
more of the same

Parallel to this, the borders of Israel have been closed to Palestinian migrant workers

Israel can't win. Damned if it does, damned if it doesn't. If they employ Palestinian workers they are "exploiting the poor Palestinian workers". If they do not employ Palestinian workers they are "closing off the labour market to the poor Palestinian workers".

No comment anywhere as to the original reason why the Palestinian workers were replaced by foreign workers. To save your poor brain from absorbing more Marxist mush I will enlighten you. It is because at the beginning of the intifada there was a spate of murders of Israeli employers committed by their Palestinian employees. It really is not conducive to good labour relations you know.

[azurnoir]

20. There could be a reason for that

some stats from Israel

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=is&v=69

According to the report, 1,600,400 people in 412,900 families were classified as poor in 2007, including 774,000 children. While the country's general standard of living increased by 3.6 percent, there was a slight decrease in the number of families living in below the poverty line, from 20% in 2006 to 19.9% in 2007. The poverty line is defined as 50% of the median net income and is adjusted to family size.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404808788&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

JERUSALEM, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Israel has the highest poverty level in the western world, with one in four Israelis below the poverty line, local daily The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday on its website, citing an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/22/content_10234845.htm

Jerusalem----October 12......As Israel enters into Yom Kippur one fact remains unchanged. One Israel child out of three is poor, a poverty report reveals. Every third child in Israel lives below the poverty line, according to an annual National Insurance Institute (NII) poverty report released recently.

Over 400,000 families in Israel suffer from "nutritional insecurity," a euphemistic term for "hunger." 28% of Israeli citizens, or 1,600,000 people are living in poverty. Among them are more than 600,000 hungry children. Those experiencing "nutritional insecurity" eat smaller portions, skip meals and, in extreme cases, don't eat for a whole day. Diets may be high in carbohydrates and lacking or almost devoid of meat, dairy products, vegetables and fruit. In Israel, 22% of families are deemed moderately insecure and 8% suffer from severe insecurity.

http://www.israelnewsagency.com/israelpovertychildrenyomkippur4831210.html