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| A MAJORITY OF ONE?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces his most serious crisis to date. January 22, 1998 |
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NewsHour Backgrounders
November 7, 1997:
Benjamin Netanyahu tries to keep his coalition intact.
November 3, 1997:
An interview with Prime Minister Netanyahu .
September 4, 1997:
Suicide bombers threaten the peace process.
April 21, 1997:
Mr. Netanyahu faces a corruption charge.
May 30, 1996:
Benjamin Netanyahu is elected prime minister of Israel.
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David Sutton of Olympia, Washington, writes: I am so tired of the posturing by both sides, without real progress, and I believe without any real interest in progress, that I believe it is time for the U.S. to define and impose a peace settlement. We should a define a plan, announce it, and that 30 days hence the U.S. will send in sufficient troops to enforce it. Any changes to the U.S. announced plan that the Arabs and Israelis can agree on before the 30 days will be incorporated. Agreement on such changes could only be without condition. In other words, there will be no "agreements" of the kind that say "We'll do this IF (or when) they do that."
In the final analysis, the Arabs and Israelis have only two choices: Peace, or life at the barricades. Their intransigence and continued fault-finding and nit-picking with the other side to avoid action on the real issues reminds me of Irag's nonsense over the composition of the U.N. inspection teams. They both remind me of 8-yr old bullies, and I for one have lost patience with both. It's time for the U.S. to impose a solution, with the military force necessary,
Kenneth Kaufman writes:
I do not understand what Netanyahu's opposition hopes to gain if they would succeed at toppling Netanyahu's government. I understand that polls show that the religious parties' support is continually on the rise, meaning that if Israel would have new elections, quite possibly the religious parties would come out of those elections with even more seats in the Kenesset than they have now. This would make them a more formidable stakeholder in the government, and make it even more difficult for either Labor or Likud to succeed at forming a majority coalition without making concessions to the religious parties in order to have them on board as part of the coalition.
Ruthanna Wolf of Downey, CA, writes:
I support Netanyahu completely in his leadership of Israel. I agree that the Palestinians MUST comply with Oslo - Israel has already given up their holy city of Hebron without the PA even removing the destruction of Israel from their Charter or recognizing Israel's legitimacy in any of their publications (published or electronic). That must be the first step. If that major, and some minor, steps are taken, Netanyahu will talk - that is all he asks.
Dr. O. Oguibe of Tampa, Florida, writes:
Perhaps the question should not be whether Mr Netanyahu's governmet will survive or not, but rather whether it should. There is little doubt that the present government has no genuine commitment to peace. Given the enormous sacrifices already made in that cause, it may well be better that the people of Israel are rid of this government so that they and the region can make needed progress in some direction. Nothing could be a greater threat to the peace process than a shifty government under an opportunistic leader who commits to neither history nor the future.
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