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Netanyahu's shifts have left some questioning his leadership
But other Israelis think the prime minister is being practical
January 14, 1997
Web posted at: 8:00 p.m. EST (0100 GMT)From Jerrold Kessel
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- When badgering or persuading, Benjamin Netanyahu is at his best. He's the master of rhetoric. That skill helped lift him to power in the first place. But now, many Israelis are wondering whether that's the best quality for a prime minister.
A L S O :
With Hebron deal signed, parties strive to sustain momentum
"It can be said that Mr. Netanyahu has probably made every mistake in the book," said political analyst Chemi Shalev. "I don't think there's a mistake he hasn't made. On the other hand, Is he going to learn from his mistakes? Then he's going to wind up being a very clever man."
For Jewish settlers determined to remain in the West Bank, his agreement to implement the long-delayed Israeli pullout from most of the West Bank town of Hebron is a sellout, a betrayal.
But he won praise for his handling of the crisis created January 1 when an off-duty Israeli soldier went on a shooting spree in a Hebron market, wounding five Arab shoppers. The soldier said later that he wanted to scuttle the Hebron troop redeployment.
"Based on what we say of his handling of the event, he is in fact learning from some of his mistakes. The only thing we can say is so far so good, and hope that this is a trend and not a one-time exception," said Shalev.
Netanyahu won office on a promise to bring Israelis a peace with security. But insecure is how most Israelis now say they're feeling. War talk is back.
And now unexpected pressures are coming from within his own right-wing camp. Some of Netanyahu's political allies are expressing doubts about his loyalty to their credo of not giving up any land.
The biggest problem, supporters say, is the mystery surrounding Bibi, as the prime minister is known. Many Israelis aren't sure what he really believes, and where he intends to lead the country. "Who is the real Bibi?" is a constant question.
"It's a zigzag policy of, on one hand, placating the right-wing, hard-line electorate that were, that are, his main supporters, and at the same time doing what his own emotional setup would like to do, and on the other hand having to come to terms with reality," said David Kimche, formerly with the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Ideology and reality have been most directly on a collision course in terms of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Bombastic declarations that settlements would expand outpace actual construction. And many Netanyahu faithful have lost heart.
"It's a feeling that he's not living up to what most people expected of him with regard to the settlements. To give them some kind of encouragement, to show that there's been some kind of departure, a real departure from the previous policies," said Yossi Ben-Aharon, former director of the prime minister's office.
The most stringent criticism is about his government's decision-making procedures. That was dramatically highlighted in September when Israel decided to open an archaeological tunnel in Jerusalem near sites considered sacred by both Jews and Muslims. Many Muslims considered the move an affront to their faith, and bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israelis ensued.
"He deceives not only the Arab leaders and maybe leaders in the free world but also his own ministers and the Israeli public. He approaches every constituency on different terms. He's talking differently to the settlers, to his supporters in Likud (Netanyahu's party) and to the rest of the Israeli public," said Ehud Barak of the Labor Party.
While he rides a crisis with supporters at home, Netanyahu's key relationship with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has changed. At first he shunned Arafat, treating him as a subject. But now, after the cooperation of Israeli and Palestinian security forces in handling the Hebron shooting, Arafat may even become Netanyahu's peace partner.
"It could just be that Hebron would be for him something of a trauma, something of a watershed in the premiership," said David Landau, a columnist for the newspaper Ha'aretz. "Six months of shilly-shallying, six months dodging around the issues, and now at last he's got his back to the wall and he's doing it. That could have, arguably, a psychological effect on the man himself."
Through all the buffeting, Netanyahu continues to display remarkable self-confidence, an assurance that he can pull of the most difficult balancing act. He brushes aside suggestions of inconsistency.
"He knew all along that he had to do a deal on Hebron. He fought and squabbled with the Palestinians over it but he's done the deal on Hebron," Landau said. "His long-term strategy is to hold back as much land as possible beyond Hebron, as much West Bank land as he can, ideally forever."
That's the much-debated central question: Does a Hebron handover to the Palestinians mean Netanyahu is abandoning the ideology of a greater Israel?
"He's a pragmatist. He redefines his ideology," said political analyst Meiron Benvenisti. "Here are some hard-liners who still believe that a Palestinian state is a bad thing, is the destruction of Israel. Others understand it differently: they say why don't we give them, as they define it, less than a state and more than an autonomy, internal in their own Swiss-cheese holes? He is creating a small enclave that will be totally dependent on Israel."
Netanyahu's first act after his election was to visit Jerusalem's Western Wall, symbol of national unity. He proclaimed himself leader of all Israelis, a healer of rifts. Instead, the divisions have deepened.
Critics on the left support him as long as they feel he is, willingly or not, furthering the peace process. The majority in his own camp and his religious allies will go on backing him because they have no alternative.
From Day 1, Benjamin Netanyahu was caught in a bind. The world, the rest of the Middle East, and half of Israel was insisting that the peace process should go on as before. Netanyahu was landed with a policy in which he does not really believe. From his vantage point, he needs the ability to maneuver within the given parameters while keeping intact as much as he can of his ideology. But it may prove to be a mission impossible.
Special section:
CNN Interactive's extended coverageRelated stories:
- Second arrest made in Hebron market shooting - January 2, 1997
- Israelis: Netanyahu-Arafat meeting 'very likely' - January 2, 1997
- Hebron shooting doesn't deter peace talks - January 1, 1997
- Hebron talks resume after shooting attack - January 1, 1997
- Leaders may meet Wednesday on Hebron deal - January 1, 1997
- Hebron deal close but leaders unlikely to meet Tuesday - December 31, 1996
- Hebron talks continue despite shrine security snag - December 29, 1996
- U.S. mediator sees Hebron deal on near horizon - December 25, 1996
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