Poll shows dovish shift among Likud activists

n an apparent radical softening of past hawkish positions, a poll of the
ruling Likud's influencial Central Committee members showed that
nearly a quarter were prepared to evacuate the Gaza Strip settlement
of Netzarim, and that another 14 percent had no opinion, the Maariv
daily reported Tuesday.

The Likud Central Committee has traditionally been viewed as
embodying stronger right-wing positions than the party rank-and file.

The Panorama poll, which covered 411 respondents, more than 10
percent of the Likud Central Committee's total membership, was
commissioned by a group of veteran Likud figures headed by Zalman
Shoval.

The poll was made public as the Shinui party prepared to submit a
proposal that could allow for dismantling Netzarim and halting targeted
killings of Palestinian militants.

Haaretz

23% in favour of evacuation of Netzarim.
63% opposed to evacuation of Netzarim.
14% no opinion.

Territories:

43% = "disputed"
50% = "liberated"
5% = "occupied"

(nothing given for no opinion)

Prisoner exchange with Hizbollah:

46% opposed

(nothing given for in favor, or no opinion)

...

Hardly dovish, in the conventional sense. But a useful trend in the context of Israeli Likud, IMO.

"Dovish shift" doesn't mean much when talking about Likud.

I was more interested in the emotional tone than any
notion that they would all suddenly become like Gandhi.
The piece on the decay in the IDF is interesting in that
regard also.

Edit: Gandhi deserves to have his name spelled right. I've
been reading Orwell's essays from the forties, and was surprised
to find he has a low opinion of Gandhi.

My own opinion of Mr. Gandhi is not too high: his comments on the world situation during the rise of the totalitarian powers are, put bluntly, embarrassingly other-worldly. Not even an understandable focus on the situation of India suffices to explain them. In a position of national governmental power, the man would have been an unmitigated disaster.

My admiration for Mr. Orwell, on the other hand, knows no bounds....

I'd read a bit of his history, and had an uncomfortable feeling
about some of his ideas, and some of his actions, but never felt
the need to take a position on him. OTOH one must acknowledge
his achievement, even if it was only to get in front of the moving
herd and say "follow me". Personally, he seems to me to have been
a bit of a loon, but then political leaders often are.

I was just somewhat surprised, given Mr. Orwell's political views,
that he had such a jaundiced view of Gandhi, but that's what you get
for being simple-minded.

Mr. Orwell has a fine mind and is a proficient writer of expository
English prose; and, unlike Mr. Huxley, he has not a drop of
sentimentality or cant in him. It is a shame he was not given
a few more decades. I am sure he would have had much more to say.