THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310021
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 48 lines
Israel appears to have a new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the first to be popularly elected. He seems to have won by a razor-thin margin.
Netanyahu's campaign was based on fear. He used the word repeatedly in televised debates. He expressed fear that the peace process is failing. And more than 200 deaths by terror since the deal was signed with the PLO is obviously cause for anxiety. Israelis are understandably tired of feeling they risk their lives every time they board a bus.
Netanyahu, 46, also played on the fear that his opponent, Shimon Peres, 72, isn't tough enough to seek peace while maintaining security, despite the latter's bloody foray into Lebanon. Such fears were muted under Peres' predecessor - the assassinated Yitzhak Rabin. He could take risks for peace because Israelis revered him as a steely soldier who would protect the nation.
Since Netanyahu ran on several inflammatory promises - to block the creation of a Palestinian state, to build more settlements on the West Bank, to retain the Golan Heights in perpetuity - it is hard to see how the peace process will continue.
The vote for seats in the Knesset suggests Netanyahu will have no trouble rallying support for a harder line. His win was a personal victory accompanied by a shift in party alignment. Both Labor and Netanyahu's Likud lost seats - Labor lost 20 percent and Likud 25 percent.
The corresponding gains were made by a variety of lesser parties - most conservative and nationalistic, several religious and one a Russian immigrant group that now claims seven seats. They will align with Netanyahu's Likud and may push it farther right. Labor won the votes of Israel's Arabs who fear Netanyahu will go to extremes.
Will he? On election night, as the tide shifted in Netanyahu's direction, so did the conventional wisdom. It's now being argued that he's too smart to institute a radical program. He knows Israel relies on foreign trade and can prosper only if order prevails.
Perhaps. But Netanyahu seems to believe the way to assure order is to punish disorder harshly. His coalition will be built on factions suspicious of the peace process, interested in cooperation with Arab neighbors only on Israel's terms, and in some cases dedicated to a larger, more-theocratic, more-bellicose Israel.
It is hard to see how Netanyahu can please them, honor his campaign rhetoric, live with his neighbors and reassure his allies. But all who wish Israel well and hope to see a safer, less-divided Middle East surely hope the new prime minister will find a way. by CNB