LIKUDNIKS VOTE FOR PURITY, IRRELEVANCE


In the wake of the succesful Bush-Sharon summit meeting and the endorsement of Bibi and the other major national figures in Likud, the defeat of the plan in the recent referendum appears to be a stunning setback for the prime minister and his plan. But, as Shinui leader Tommy Lapid noted, the views of slightly more than 25% of one party doesn't exactly mean very much in light of the decisive majority of the Israeli public in favor of the plan. Looking closer, the vote says far more about the increasing irrelevance of the Likud party, and the inability of the Israeli right's grass-roots to come to grips with post-Oslo reality. In this regard, the Likudniks, with their undimmed commitment to Greater Israel and dogged refusal to give concessions to terror mirror the Israeli Left's unreconstructed Peace Processors.


The inexorable logic of unilateral withdraw, will continue to push the Sharon Plan forward, with or without Sharon. Already, the ever-hopeful Shimon Peres is calling for elections, seeing an opportunity for Labor to once more recover the pragmatic Israeli center. With Yossi Beillin now pitching Oslo knock-offs with the party formerly known as Meretz, he has a shot, but the party with the most to gain from Likud's sucidical instincts is Lapid's Shinui, who now have the ideal position on the left-wing of Sharon's coalition. All of this is speculation, however, as Sharon is far too cagy to stumble again. He will push forward, and drag the majority of his power behind him, kicking and screaming. And those that don't want to come can along can join the Herut branch of the National Union which shares the politics and name of Likud's predecessor - uncompromisiing and irrelevant.