The Labor Party, too, was dealt a blow of confusion and embarrassment by the Bush speech, even as the party prepares for its convention next week. Several leading non-minister MKs, such as Avraham Burg, Chaim Ramon, Yael Dayan and others, convened today and called for the party to resign from the government. They say that Labor is cooperating with Likud policies, and that it has lost its identity and relevance.
Though the party has been limping along for a while, the Bush speech truly knocked it for a loop, Yediot Acharonot commentator Nechama Duek told Arutz-7 today: \"They [many Labor MKs] thought that their membership in the government all this time would lead to a peace agreement - and now it turns out that President Bush himself has adopted the Likud position… This is not to say that Labor had no influence on day-to-day government decisions, such as delaying an entry into Gaza here or taking down an outpost there - but not more than that… The Labor convention will feature the party\'s lack of consensus - different opinions on the proposed partition fence, bleak prospects in the next elections, etc….\"
In a related item, this is what MK Amnon Rubenstein of the left-wing Meretz party, had to say about Bush\'s speech and the left-wing\'s criticism of it:
\" The speech was important because it pointed out who is to blame for the deterioration, namely Arafat, who I see as a genuine international criminal… The Israeli left\'s criticism [of the speech] results from its desire for an immediate solution to get them out of this morass of terrorism; this is understandable per se, but Israel was in a bad state and needed a good word, while the Palestinians needed this warning; what is amazing is that Egypt and Jordan and France accepted it, so why can\'t we!?\"
Though the party has been limping along for a while, the Bush speech truly knocked it for a loop, Yediot Acharonot commentator Nechama Duek told Arutz-7 today: \"They [many Labor MKs] thought that their membership in the government all this time would lead to a peace agreement - and now it turns out that President Bush himself has adopted the Likud position… This is not to say that Labor had no influence on day-to-day government decisions, such as delaying an entry into Gaza here or taking down an outpost there - but not more than that… The Labor convention will feature the party\'s lack of consensus - different opinions on the proposed partition fence, bleak prospects in the next elections, etc….\"
In a related item, this is what MK Amnon Rubenstein of the left-wing Meretz party, had to say about Bush\'s speech and the left-wing\'s criticism of it:
\" The speech was important because it pointed out who is to blame for the deterioration, namely Arafat, who I see as a genuine international criminal… The Israeli left\'s criticism [of the speech] results from its desire for an immediate solution to get them out of this morass of terrorism; this is understandable per se, but Israel was in a bad state and needed a good word, while the Palestinians needed this warning; what is amazing is that Egypt and Jordan and France accepted it, so why can\'t we!?\"