Anachronism in the Likud

The Likud Central Committee is slated to meet on Sunday with an agenda that includes a proposed resolution against the establishment of a Palestinian state. The decision is meant to require Likud representatives in the government, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to foil any political move that might lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The resolution is meant to establish a binding principle and be permanent. If Ariel Sharon does not manage to prevent the debate and vote on the resolution, the members of the Likud Central Committee will be responsible for a disastrous policy. National history will remember them as bringing calamity to the state, endangering its development, if not its actual existence.

The national Palestinian demand for political independence and sovereignty is accepted by the entire international community, and is anchored in moral imperative, norms of behavior between nations, and decisions of past Israeli governments. The ruling party's decision to turn its back on this consensus is an expression of emotional outrage, outdated ideological zealotry, and a worrisome failure in the ability to perceive reality and foresee events.