Controversy has developed over the “Progressive List for Peace, ” a newly formed faction of Israeli Arabs and Jews which seeks to participate in the July 23 Knesset elections.
Security sources have branded it subversive and Premier Yitzhak Shamir has outlawed it in his capacity as acting Defense Minister. Defense Minister Moshe Arens, presently in the U.S., was notified of the action last Friday. It was reported today that he will meet with representatives of the new group on his return later this week and will decide then whether or not to outlaw it. Under the law, only the Defense Minister may outlaw a political group on grounds that it poses a security threat to the State.
Security sources have charged that the faction constitutes an attempt to introduce supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization into the Knesset. They noted that its platform refers to a future independent Palestinian state without defining its borders. It recognizes the existence of the State of Israel, but only within the borders of June 4, 1967, before the Six-Day War.
The participation of Jews in the election list is an attempt to camouflage the real purpose of the new faction, according to Moshe Kochanovsky, legal advisor to the Defense Ministry.
The main Jewish component is “Alternative,” a splinter faction of the leftist Sheli party headed by Gen. (Res.) Matityahu Peled. Peled has the No. 2 spot on the list. The top spot is occupied by an Arab attorney, Mohammad Miari. Miari was, in the 1950s, a member of the outlawed Arab group Al-Ard. The Supreme Court ruled at that time that Al-Ard “totally negated the existence of the State of Israel, particularly in its present borders.”
MOVE IS CONDEMNED
Although the “Progressive List for Peace” clearly differs from Al-Ard insofar as it recognizes the Israeli State, that, Kochanovsky charges, is only “a tactical move” intended to meet the criteria of the Central Elections Committee. Miari retorted that the platform reflects the honest opinions of all the participants. He admitted however that various opinions had been expressed before the platform was adopted.
The spokesmen of several other parties have condemned moves to outlaw the list. Notable among them was Interior Minister Yosef Burg of the National Religious Party who is opposed to government intervention in the electoral process. Labor Alignment MK Amnon Lin said his party will take no stand on the issue until it receives relevant information from the security sources.
Meanwhile, demands have been made to outlaw Rabbi Meir Kahane’s radical rightwing Kach party which occupies the other extreme of the political spectrum. The Central Elections Committee indicated it will consider these demands shortly. Kach spokesmen claimed the outlaw move was an indication that the party has “good prospects” of winning Knesset representation in the upcoming elections, something it has failed to do in the last two elections.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
