Journalist Switches from Livni to Meretz Larry Derfner writes this about himself: “Politically, I would describe myself as an ultra-liberal Zionist; as journalist Bradley Burston put it, I’m ‘probably as far left as a centrist can be’.” His once impressive career as a journalist has largely been derailed by his outspoken views, plus the recent contraction in print journalism. Derfner has changed his mind from supporting Tzipi Livni’s new HaTenuah party to Meretz, because he sees Meretz as uniquely courageous in pressing for peace. This endorsement is welcome news, and I agree that the failure to advance a peace process in the current situation is Israel’s fault; Netanyahu’s government clearly prefers expanding settlements to negotiating peace. But I see his larger assertion, laying the entire blame for the conflict with the Palestinians at Israel’s feet, as unnecessarily combative and not entirely accurate. Despite Palestinian frustrations and disappointments with the political decisions and negotiating strategy of Ehud Barak in 1999 and 2000, nobody forced the Palestinians to launch their counterproductive Second Intifada. (Mahmoud Abbas has candidly admitted that this return to violence was catastrophic for his people; Suha Arafat has just been quoted confessing her husband’s decision to begin the Intifada.) Although the unilateral nature of Ariel Sharon’s “Disengagement” policy set the stage for the rise of Hamas in Gaza, nobody forced a 44% plurality of Palestinian voters to support Hamas in the election of 2006. And although one can legitimately find fault with the extent of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, nobody forced Palestinian fighters to attack Israeli towns repeatedly from that quarter since those events. Moreover, the Israeli electorate would be more forthcoming if consistently encouraged by Abbas and his moderate support base in the Palestinian Authority of their peaceful intent. (This report in Haaretz is eye-opening, revealing impressive poll data showing that “most Likud-Beiteinu and the further-right Habayit Hayehudi voters would support a peace agreement establishing a demilitarized Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, Israel’s retention of major settlement blocs and a division of Jerusalem.”) Abbas has been clear about endorsing a negotiated two-state solution with Israel, but does not embrace the obvious formula of “two states for two peoples.” And as peace activist Gershon Baskin pointed out in his Jerusalem Post column, his speech at the UN in November could have been much more conciliatory. The following is an abbreviated version of Derfner’s post at the +972 website: Meretz’s peace plan: A challenge to liberal timidity The party’s new proposal effectively says the unsayable: that on the occupation, Israel is wrong and the Arabs are right. There are so many people out there, in Israel and overseas, who know that this country has gone wrong and that Netanyahu and the right are leading it to hell. Yet they end up giving their tacit support to the worsening status quo because they don’t have the courage to follow their thoughts to their logical conclusion: that Israel is at fault for the occupation, and that the occupation is at fault for the conflict with the Palestinians. Not Israel and the Palestinians both – Israel alone. Not Netanyahu and Abbas both, if we’re talking about right now – just Netanyahu. … And that’s what makes the Meretz peace plan, which the party presented in its election campaign this week, an oasis in the desert. … It calls for Israel’s immediate recognition of Palestine, followed by a settlement freeze, release of prisoners, lifting of roadblacks, and negotiations based on the Arab peace plan with the sponsorship of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey…. It also calls for scrapping the Oslo Accord…. A couple of weeks ago I wrote, somewhat warily, in favor of voting for Hatnuah on practical grounds…. Since then, Livni appears much more clearly to want into Netanyahu’s next government, while Meretz has now offered an extremely valuable example of how the Israeli opposition should act – boldly. So I’ve changed my mind, and am now, without qualifications, in favor of voting for Meretz. Again, here’s a link to Derfner’s entire article at the +972 online magazine. .