Word: lieberman
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Senators who are huge supporters of Kurdish development - John McCain and Joe Lieberman - have sent a letter to Kurdish leaders saying they expect the elections to set a "gold standard" for the Middle East. Indeed, the two dominant political parties are now being challenged by the reformist Change List and various coalitions of religious, leftist and independent parties, which are taking advantage of popular frustration at the level of corruption and heavy-handed governance in the region. (Read about how Kurds vs. Arabs could be the next Iraqi civil...
...Lieberman's hard line is the product of his past. His family moved to Israel in 1978 from the Soviet republic of Moldavia, now Moldova. His father fought in the Red Army in World War II but, like many other Soviet Jews, later spent years of forced exile in Siberia. "In my home, we spoke only about Israel," Lieberman says. "It was a dream that one day we would come here." Upon arriving, Lieberman enrolled at Hebrew University, moonlighting as a bouncer at a student nightclub and becoming active in the right-wing Likud Party. In the late...
Around the time he settled in Nokdim, Lieberman met Netanyahu, then a rising Likud star. He ran Netanyahu's first, successful campaign for Prime Minister, in 1996, and became his chief of staff. "Netanyahu trusted him," says Tzahi Hanegbi, who served as the Justice Minister at the time. "He was quiet, discreet and loyal." In 1999, Lieberman split from Netanyahu and Likud, forming Yisrael Beitenu, an unapologetically nationalist party that drew its support from Israel's Russian-immigrant community. The party's most explosive position is the call for all citizens to pledge allegiance to the Jewish state...
There's little chance the loyalty pledge will become law. Lieberman knows this. But by pressing the issue, he taps a growing impatience among Israelis with the country's Arab citizens, some of whom openly sided with Hamas during Israel's offensive against the militant group last winter. "His views have a constituency," says Hanegbi. "People want someone who will represent their fears and frustrations." Lieberman insists he supports an independent Palestinian state and says Israel is "ready to start negotiations without preconditions." But in Lieberman's view, peace doesn't mean cohabitation. "His governing idea is, Jews...
...cynical one. Any final agreement between Arabs and Israelis will require them to share some territory - in Jerusalem, for instance - to which both can make rightful claims. Insisting on physical separation as a prerequisite for a peace deal is a safe way to ensure that one is never struck. Lieberman's views may be finding acceptance in the Israeli mainstream. But they are not the way to forge a lasting peace in the Middle East...