The New Centre.

By Ted Belman

There is much talk today about how Israelis are coalescing on the center. The illusions of the left regarding the possibility of peace and the desire of the right to keep all the land have been abandoned.

Ari Shavit in his article Kadima Day writes that the centre lead by Kadima believes the “occupation is a catastrophe” and wants Israel to “withdraw to a border that would allow it to withstand the continuation of the conflict. A party that would cautiously leave the territories, but demonstrate strength in the face of enemies.”

It seems to me that the reason Kadima is going to lose the next election is because of such beliefs. The Right will win because it represents the new centre. A centre that believes Israel must remain in Judea and Samaria in order to withstand the conflict. A centre who refuses to believe that evacuating settlements will serve the cause of peace. A centre that believes that Jerusalem should remain in Jewish hands. A centre that believes that Israel must be a Jewish state rather than a state of all its citizens.

That’s the new centre.