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Amir Peretz: Israel's dove trapped at forefront of war
By Patrick Anidjar
AFP
JERUSALEM
Petroleumworld.com 07 28 06
Less than three months after becoming defence minister, the longtime peace activist Amir Peretz finds himself at the forefront of the Israeli war in Lebanon.
"Recently, I wake up every morning asking myself if it is really me who is holding the post of defence minister," one of Peretz's confidants quoted him as saying.
But there is no doubt -- the 54-year-old former activist of the Peace Now movement is the man who for the last 16 days has sent planes to bomb Israel's northern neighbour.
And he is the man overseeing an offensive that's killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 51 people in Israel, mostly troops.
Since the start of the blitz against Hezbollah, the pudgy man with the salt and pepper moustache has regularly appeared with soldiers -- before their departure for the front, on top of a tank, or surrounded by pilots.
But observers here say the photographs do not reflect the true picture of what goes on behind the scenes -- it is not Peretz who is directly overseeing the operations.
"The army does not take him seriously, does not trust his opinion and therefore manipulates him," Daniel Bensimon, a political analyst, told AFP.
"You have to remember that Amir Peretz did not come from its ranks, unlike most of his predecessors," he said.
Peretz is in effect the first trade union leader to have taken up the post of Israel's defence minister, which has usually been occupied by former generals -- such as Ariel Sharon who directed Israel's previous incursion into Lebanon that kicked off in 1982 and lasted till 2000.
"We are missing military leadership that is capable of making decisions related to the offensive," Israeli media quoted another minister as telling Peretz at a recent meeting of the security cabinet.
"The time for idle chatter has passed," the minister said.
During the past several days, Peretz has been widely criticised for not taking a clear decision on expanding the ground offensive in Lebanon.
On Thursday, the security cabinet also left the question up in the air, deciding to expand the air campaign in Lebanon, but rejected an increased ground force presence after the death of nine soldiers in battles with Hezbollah around the key border town of Bint Jbeil.
Against the mounting criticism Peretz allies have rallied to back him up.
"Not to make a decision does not mean that there is no one who is directing this war at the defence ministry," a Peretz aide said on condition of anonymity.
Peretz "is capable of keeping the army in check. As proof, he fiercely opposes an extension of ground operations up to the Litani river," some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Israel's border with Lebanon, said the aide.
"Peretz is like a hostage who cannot escape his captors, in other words the military," says Bensimon.
"He is decidedly not in his element and was surprised by the cruelty of the enemy, the Hamas in the Gaza Strip as well as the Hezbollah in southern Lebanon," he said.
"He did not think that these two groups would bomb civilians in this way and seize three soldiers," he said.
During the three months the Labour Party leader has spent at his new post, the dove has begun to sound more like a hawk.
Bensimon said Israel had to "strike hard" against Palestinian militants in Gaza who launch rockets at the town of Sderot, where Peretz grew up and still lives, as well as the Hezbollah fighters raining rockets onto the north of the country.
He also warned Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah that he would "always remember the name of Amir Peretz."
The approach is working in so far as the public is concerned, with the latest opinion polls placing Peretz's approval ratings at more than 70 percent.
AFP 28 0149 GMT 07 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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