RSS Feeds

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Commentary Home page  back Print  Send To friend "Without Jewish-Arab partnership, no rebirth for the left in Israel" But in these elections it became completely clear that without a Jewish-Arab partnership there is no rebirth for the left in Israel. One of the loud and prominent voices is the , , among the veterans of the party. In the past Sagee served as the CEO of Hashomer Hatzair and as the chair of the Council of Youth Movements, and he is currently the CEO of the Givat Haviva Center for a Shared Society – bringing together a group of bodies and projects engaged in Jewish-Arab activity and in coexistence. In the spirt of the body he has led for the past six years, Sagee is calling for and acting to establish a new political body, one that is Jewish and Arab, to include under one canopy representatives or parties from the Jewish left and from the Arab factions – from the Labor Party and Meretz and up through Hadash, the Islamic Movement (Raam) and Taal of Ahmed Tibi. He leaves out the nationalist Balad party. In Sagee’s vision, the said list will have two chairs – a Jew and an Arab. The primary aspiration is for one party, with representation through the “zipper system” (vertical parity) for Jews and Arabs. A different model, perhaps more realistic, is a left-wing bloc of Jewish and Arab parties that will run together, in similar fashion to the four Arab parties in the framework of the Joint List in the 2015 elections. What is certain, states Sagee, is that Meretz will cease existing if it continues to run alone as it has done up until now. “Meretz and others on the Israeli left will need to understand that the State of Israel is on a razor-thin edge and it obligates us to change,” he says. According to the chair of the Meretz directorate, the future of the Zionist left is therefore in the hands of the Arab public. Actually, he reminds us, those who saved Meretz from extinction in the most recent elections were Arab voters. This fact proves his claim that the only way to bring down the right-wing government means joining up with Arab parties. revive/ Links to the latest articles in this section Is there still a chance to break the cycle of revenge and bloodshed? Israelis Against Apartheid Statement Following ICJ Hearing Three weeks into the Gaza War - a somber and sober assessment, with some historical perspectives