Israel's Populist Hope

[Lannes]

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10626

some snips

Amir Peretz, the new chairman of the Labor Party, is a progressive populist -- but he may be George W. Bush's best hope.

Peretz, who won a surprise, cliffhanger victory over incumbent chairman Shimon Peres last week, is a trade unionist in his gut. He is a masterful negotiator who has pledged that, if he is elected prime minister in the next Israeli elections (likely to be scheduled for spring 2006), he will move his country toward direct negotiations with the Palestinians. Peretz's ideology is directly counter to everything the current U.S. administration believes in, but unlike the current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, Peretz wants to negotiate a final agreement that brings peace to the two sides.

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Peretz, who is already being attacked by his opponents for being soft on security, served in the army and was severely wounded -- today, he walks with a limp from a war wound -- but he comes to the political stage with a security message wrapped in a domestic agenda. In speeches this past week to commemorate the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Peretz spoke about continuing Rabin's vision of a two-state solution. He has simultaneously supported returning to the Oslo peace process and abandoning a mediated process in favor of direct negotiations with the Palestinians. Whichever route he takes, he is expected to aim for an agreement that ends Israel's West Bank occupation and shrinks the settlement enterprise substantially.