10A Thursday, November 15, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WORLD
Defense chief’s resignation
pushes Israel toward election
ADEL HANA I Associated Press
Relatives of Palestinian fisherman Nawaf Al-Attar, 20, who
was shot and killed by Israeli troops on the beach near the
border with Israel, mourn during his funeral, in Beit Lahiya,
northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 14.
BY JOSEF FEDERMAN
Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Isra
el’s defense minister on
Wednesday abruptly
resigned to protest a new
cease-fire with Hamas mili
tants in Gaza, throwing the
government into turmoil
and pushing the country
toward an early election.
Avigdor Lieberman’s
decision was ostensibly a
show of anger over Tues
day’s informal truce with
Israel’s Hamas enemies.
But in many ways, it was
the opening round of a new
political campaign.
His defection leaves
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu with the nar
rowest of parliamentary
majorities — only 61 of 120
seats in his coalition.
In theory, Netanyahu
can continue to govern until
parliamentary elections
scheduled for a year from
now. But with another coali
tion rival, Naftali Bennett,
threatening to leave the
coalition if he doesn’t get
the defense portfolio, the
days of Netanyahu’s gov
ernment appear numbered.
Here’s a closer look at
the developments:
Netanyahu’s cease-fire
After two days of heavy
fighting, Netanyahu’s deci
sion to accept the Egyptian-
brokered truce was more
than level heads prevailing.
The longtime Israeli
leader knows well the
military option has its lim
its. Israel has maintained
a crippling blockade on
Gaza and fought three
wars against Hamas since
the Islamic militant group
seized power in 2007. This
has inflicted heavy dam
age on Gaza, but Hamas
remains firmly in power.
Ousting the group would
require a military operation
that could take months and
cost the lives of thousands
of Palestinian civilians
and many Israeli soldiers.
Reluctant to pay such a
price, Netanyahu instead
seems content to keep a
weakened Hamas in check.
Netanyahu may also
have a deeper agenda.
Leaving the Palestinians
torn between two govern
ments — Hamas in Gaza
and the internationally
backed Palestinian Author
ity in the West Bank —
works in his favor.
With the Palestinians
divided, there is little pres
sure for Netanyahu to make
concessions, allowing him
to expand West Bank settle
ments and cement Israeli
control over the territory.
Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas has repeat
edly accused Israel and the
U.S. of collaborating behind
his back and preparing a
peace plan offering the Pal
estinians a mini-state in the
Gaza Strip and small auton
omous areas of the West
Bank, which falls short of
his demand for a fully inde
pendent Palestinian state
including both territories.
“It isn’t true Netanyahu
doesn’t have a policy. He
does: He is a firm believer
in perpetuating the status
quo,” wrote Israeli colum
nist Nahum Barnea.
Bibi’s bouncer
Lieberman is a former
aide to Netanyahu
who has been both
an ally and rival
over the years. He
currently heads
Yisrael Beitenu,
a small ultrana
tionalist party that
appeals to immi
grants from the for
mer Soviet Union.
A former nightclub
bouncer known for his
sharp tongue and Russian-
accented Hebrew, the
Soviet-born Lieberman has
sought to project an image
as a tough-talking politi
cian. At times, he has been
critical of Israel’s Arab
minority, liberal opposition
groups and even Israel’s
ally Egypt. Sitting in the
opposition, he once threat
ened to assassinate Hamas
leader Ismail Haniyeh if he
held the defense portfolio.
But as defense minister,
Lieberman’s accomplish
ments remain limited, and
Haniyeh is well-off in Gaza.
Calling the cease-fire
“surrender to terrorism,”
Lieberman also made
clear that his frustrations
run much deeper. He said
he also opposed a recent
decision to allow Qatar to
deliver $15 million in aid to
Gaza and the cancellation,
under heavy international
pressure, of the planned
demolition of a Bedouin vil
lage in the West Bank.
“We are buying quiet in
the short-term at the cost of
severe damage to our secu
rity in the long-term,” he
said. “The weakness we dis
played also projects itself to
other arenas.”
Election Strategies
If Netanyahu calls early
elections, opinion polls fore
cast a victory by his Likud
Party and hard-line part
ners, including Lieberman.
With his resignation,
Lieberman appears to be
positioning himself for elec
tions by painting Netanyahu
as soft and portraying him
self as a defense hawk.
Bennett, a former Netan
yahu aide who leads
the religious Jew
ish Home Party, is
likely to use a simi
lar strategy. Like
Lieberman, Ben
nett favors tougher
military action
against Hamas.
All three appeal
to a similar bloc of
voters. Although
Netanyahu would likely
emerge as the leader,
siphoning off votes would
strengthen his rivals.
Netanyahu’s rivals are
eager to tap into public
anger over the cease-fire.
Residents in rocket-battered
towns in southern Israel,
typically Likud strongholds,
have protested the truce.
Lieberman
May wins Cabinet
backing for Brexit,
but pitfalls remain
BY JILL LAWLESS
AND L0RNE COOK
Associated Press
LONDON — In a hard-
won victory, British Prime
Minister Theresa May on
Wednesday persuaded
her Cabinet to back a draft
divorce agreement with the
European Union, a decision
that triggers the final steps
on the long and rocky road to
Brexit.
But she still faces pitfalls
and threats from her domes
tic opponents as she
tries to navigate the
U.K.’s orderly exit
from the EU.
May hailed the
Cabinet decision as
a “decisive step”
toward finalizing the
exit deal with the EU
within days. It sets in
motion an elaborate
diplomatic choreography of
statements and meetings.
EU chief negotiator
Michel Barnier declared
there had been “decisive
progress” — the key phrase
signaling EU leaders can
convene a summit to approve
the deal, likely this month.
Crucially, Barnier said
that “we have now found a
solution together with the
U.K. to avoid a hard border
on the island of Ireland.”
But the agreement, ham
mered out between U.K.
and EU negotiators after
17 months of what Barnier
called “very intensive” talks,
infuriated pro-Brexit law
makers in May’s Conserva
tive Party, who said it would
leave Britain a vassal state,
bound to EU rules that it has
no say in making.
Those “hard Brexit”
voices include several min
isters in May’s Cabinet.
Emerging from the five-hour
meeting in 10 Downing St.,
May said the Cabinet talks
had been “long, detailed and
impassioned.” She said there
had been a “collective deci
sion” to back the deal, though
she did not say whether it
was unanimous.
“I firmly believe, with my
head and my heart, that this
is a decision which is in the
best interests of the United
Kingdom,” she said.
And in a warning to her
opponents, May said the
choice was between her deal,
“or leave with no deal; or no
Brexit at all.”
If the EU backs the deal,
as it likely will, it must be
approved by Britain’s Par
liament. That could be a
challenge, since pro-Brexit
and pro-EU legislators alike
are threatening to
oppose it.
Pro-Brexit law
makers say the
agreement will
leave Britain teth
ered to the EU
after it departs and
unable to forge an
independent trade
policy.
On the other side of the
argument, pro-EU legislators
say May’s deal is worse than
the status quo and the British
public should get a new vote
on whether to leave or stay.
In between those two
camps are May’s supporters,
who argue that the deal is the
best on offer, and the alterna
tives are a chaotic “no-deal”
Brexit that would cause huge
disruption to people and busi
nesses, or an election that
could see the Conservative
government replaced by the
left-of-center Labour Party.
Failure to secure Cabinet
backing will leave May’s
leadership in doubt and the
Brexit process in chaos,
with exit day just over four
months away, on March 29.
May also could face the
threat of a coup attempt from
her own party.
Under Conservative rules,
a no-confidence vote in the
leader is triggered if 15 per
cent of party lawmakers
write letters requesting one.
The required number cur
rently stands at 48 lawmak
ers; only the lawmaker who
collects the letters knows for
sure how many have been
submitted.
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