Conference taveng::bagels

    re: .0
    
    It doesn't matter anyway because the results of this election will
    mirror the last one.  Another "memshelet ichud" on the way.
    
    David

Thanks for the news bulletin.
Yes, I think you are right that this is indeed what the right wing
was hoping for.
By the way, was there any ruling on the Progressive List for Peace?
Can they stand for election?
-Zaitch

	Re .2:  The "Progressive List for Peace" (HADASH) will be allowed
	to participate in the elections.  (The court ruled unanimously
	about Kahane, but not so about PLP.)

	Re .1:  I'm not sure which is worse, four more years of this kind
	of stalemate and divided leadership, or four years of a Likud-Tehiya
	-religious parties coalition.  But if I had to place a bet, I
	have a feeling the electorate is moving to the right, and that
	this time the Likud will prevail.  People have short memories.
	The fact that it was the Labor party which brought an end to the
	war in Lebanon, and which brought inflation from 1000% to 20%
	is not very relevant today to most of the voters.  What's
	important is people's unease about the uprising.  When people are
	afraid, they move the covered wagons into a circle and tend
	to be less willing to "take chances for peace".

	Re .0:  Sorry for the duplication of .0 in the Kahane note.
	I thought I deleted this one after I entered it as a new note
	by mistake, and now it's too late.

    I'm not familiar with Hadash.  Could you describe their platform,
    and why it was almost barred from running in the election?
    
    				Paul
    

    Now isn't politics in Israel much more interesting and fun than
    the stale horse**** that goes on here?   You know the Democrats
    being a lukewarm version of the Republicans, etc.
    
    David

re .3, .4

The PLP is a very left-wing party that supports negotiations with the PLO.
What else they support is a matter of dispute:  The right-wing and religious
parties challenged their participation in the upcoming elections, using
provisions of the same law that was used to disqualify Kach (Kahane's party).
The same Elections Committee that barred Kach decided not to bar the PLP.
Both decisions were appealed to the Supreme Court.  In separate decisions,
the Court upheld both of the Committee's rulings: Kach is out, but the PLP
is in.

Hadash is the local Communist party, whose official name is the Democratic
Front for Peace and Equality (or something like that).  The Communists have
participated in every election since the founding of the State of Israel.
Not only that, but Meir Vilner, one of their Members of Knesset, also is
one of the signers of the Israeli Declaration of Independence.  Their
participation in the current election was not challenged.

As for policy differences between Hadash and the PLP, I'm not sure what
they are.  Finding ideological differences between small parties of the
far left is as difficult as finding them between those of the far right.

One final point:  The disqualification of Kahane leaves the Israeli voters
with only twenty-seven (27) lists among which to choose in the November 1
election.

    Yes, sorry for the confusion of PLP and Hadash (the Communist
    party). 

    Some more information about the court challenges:  Before the last
    elections, an appeal was made to the Supreme Court to ban Kach on
    the grounds that its platform violated one of the tenets of the
    State -- namely the guarantee of equality to all citiizens
    regardless of race, sex, religion, etc. (Israel has no
    constitution, but there is a document signed by a lot of important
    people on May 14,1948 called the Proclamation of the State which
    contains this "tenet".)  The court ruled then that they couldn't
    disqualify Kach because there was, at present, no law against
    racism upon which to base this disqualification.  As an aside, the
    court said it would have been very happy if such a law did exist.
    So after this Knesset convened, they did pass such a law, and it
    was on this basis that Kahane was disqualified *this time*.

    When the law against inciting racism was passed, there was an
    attempt by some parties to get a quid pro quo passed which would
    also outlaw parties which denied the Jewish nature of the state
    (this would include the PLP which advocates a secular Palestinian
    state to replace Israel, but then, so do the Communists).  If I
    remember correctly, this law was *not* passed, and hence the court
    now had no basis on which to disqualify the left-wing parties. 

    Yes, elections here are more interesting than in the States.  That's
    true about life here in general, but sometimes I long for a little
    boredom.

    - sid