John R. Houk
© August 7, 2010
Ari Bussel writes on a scandalous issue within Israel. Apparently Haim Ramon and Saeb Erekat met at a restaurant of the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem. Ramon is a member of Israel’s Kadima Party and Erekat is a high level negotiator for the Palestinian Authority (PA) representing PA leader Mahmoud Abbas in Israel/Palestine Two-State negotiations.
I say apparently because Bussel regards the meeting as a factual occurrence while Israel’s President Shimon Peres and Saeb Erekat such a meeting took place. The story goes that a person in the restaurant was sitting close to Erekat at another table and overheard Ramon and Erekat speaking the Two-State negotiations ongoing between Israel and the PA. The topic of the conversion overheard was that Ramon was sent by President Peres (also of Kadima Party) to Erekat to tell him to hold off from negotiating with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government (led by Likkud) because a Kadima led government will be more accommodating to the PA side.
If this is true (And remember mutual denials have been issued), it is a case of Israel’s Head of State in President Peres is actively working against Israel’s Head of Government Prime Minister Netanyahu. Israel is a Parliamentarian nation that elects a President with very little political power as Head of State. The Israeli Government is totally dependent on support from the Israeli Parliament which is known as the Knesset. If a political party in the Knesset does not have a clear majority, then the political party that has gained the most seats is responsible to put together a coalition government of various political parties that act as a block supporting the Government. In the next election the process is repeated or the Government must resign if for some reason the Knesset produces a no-confidence vote that is greater than the Prime Minister’s authority.
Under this system of government the Office of Prime Minister operates what Americans would call the Executive Branch; i.e. the PM is the boss with the Ministers of the Cabinet having substantial power for they may represent percentages of the political parties in the Knesset coalition block.
So going back to the “if this is true” stipulation, it would be like the Senate Majority Leader or the Speaker of the House negotiating with a foreign government with options definitely not part of the agenda of the President of the United States. That is not an exact representation but it is close enough to get the idea across. In America such an act would have to be a crime that might border on treason depending on the content of exchange with a foreign nation.
Here are the denials as reported in the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz newspaper media outlets:
Beit Hanassi has issued statement denying allegations that former government minister and current chairman of the Kadima Council Haim Ramon had been sent by President Shimon Peres to talk to Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat.
The denial follows a sensational broadcast on Israel Radio on Thursday in which political reporter, commentator and anchorwoman Ayala Hasson interviewed someone who had sat at the next table to Erekat and Ramon at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem and had clearly overheard Ramon advising Erekat as to how to proceed in relation to the policies of the Netanyahu-led government.
The interviewee, whose voice was distorted, was asked by Hasson whether he had recorded the conversation and he declined to answer. Later in the program when Hasson was talking to lawyer Amnon Zichroni she asked him "a hypothetical question" as to whether it was illegal to record a conversation held in a public place, which seemed to indicate that she knew that the conversation had in fact been recorded.
…
In can presumed that the recording device was in his cell phone, which he probably put on the table in full view of anyone who cared to look.
According to the interview, Erekat had asked Ramon who he was representing and Ramon had replied that he had been sent by President Shimon Peres.
President Peres never asked Haim Ramon to meet with Saeb Erekat. Any claim to the contrary is an outright lie, says the statement from Beit Hanassi.
The statement goes on to point out that Peres does not need any intermediaries to talk on his behalf to the Palestinians.
The President meets on a regular basis with leaders from all over the world including members of the Palestinian leadership.
Beit Hanassi deplores the use of the President's name at a meeting in which had neither direct nor indirect contact, the statement concludes. (Jerusalem Post 7-29-10)
Here is a shorter Haaretz reporting on Saeb Erekat’s denial:
Erekat also denied a report by Israel Radio that Haim Ramon, a former minister and lawmaker from the opposition Kadima party, had urged the PA not to enter into direct negotiations with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I am astounded at times to see how low these stories can go," Erekat said. "Ramon didn't tell me to enter direct talks or not to enter them. Such a thing never happened, and no Israeli will tell us anything along those lines."
Erekat also denied that Ramon had been sent at the behest of President Shimon Peres. "Do not drag us into your internal politics," he added. (Haaretz 8-1-10)
It appears to me that Israel’s Kadima Party and the PA are engaging in that time honored political practice of plausible deniability.
Such a scandal to exist in Israel’s fragile demographic position surrounded by anti-Semitic hatred is evidence that Israel’s politics may be just as great a threat to its existence than the designs of Islamic terrorists and the open belligerence of Iran and Syria.
JRH 8/7/10
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