After Begin: A New Beginning?

It would be comforting if we could feel that the departure of Begin marks the arrival of a new era. But how good are the chances? The continuation in power of a Likud coalition is sure to mean the continuation of Mr. Begin's policies of might makes right, with the Old Testament being used as a guide for settling disputes with Arabs over real estate. At this writing, we do not know who would lead such a coalition. If it should be Yitzhak Shamir, Israel would have a less charismatic leader but one who shares Mr. Begin's ideology (and to some extent his background: he is also a onetime terrorist, having been a leader of the so-called Stern Gang, which in 1948 assassinated U.N. mediator Count FolkeBernadotte). Would things be any better if the Labor Party was able to take charge? We're not sure. For example, it was a Labor regime which put the first settlers on the West Bank. Although Labor never made biblical claims on the territory, it did believe that a large portion of it would have to be retained for "security" purposes, and during its 10 years of power after the capture of the West Bank in 1967 it never gave up a square inch of it. It was also a Labor Party prime minister, Golda Meir, who once said "there is no such thing as a Palestinian people."

We know there has been a great deal of soul-searching among Israelis during the past year, and that more of them than ever believe that peace will never be achieved by taking over more and more Arab land. But are there yet enough to effect any meaningful change in Israel's policies? We hope so—but the outlook is not promising.