The last "pre-HaDemocratim" poll in which Labor & Meretz were asked about separately was 6-28-24 - a month after Golan's takeover. Labor got 6 seats; Meretz 4. If anything, Meretz, with 3 of the first 12 slots, was underrepresented in the unification deal. www.maariv.co.il/news/israel/...

In other words - boycott as a tactic comes in all shapes and sizes and can never really be decoupled from end goals. Zubin Mehta's boycott doesn't embrace the BDS Movement's demands; he just wants Israel to do much, much better.

The plan, in other words, alludes to a *political* process of Disarmament/Demobilization/Reintegration, in which "those associated with armed groups can become active participants in the peace process [or] integrate [into] formal uniformed services of the State." peacekeeping.un.org/en/disarmame...

Paragraph 13 of the 20-point plan outlines a "process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning ... and reintegration".
www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

By party voting intention (Jews; %) - if there's a tie between the blocs, "would you support or not support the establishment of a government headed by the political camp closest to your position which relies on cooperation with Ra’am (UAL), headed by Mansour Abbas?"

Gantz was always center-right and would've fit in the Likud of old, before Netanyahu took it back, and far-right, after Sharon bolted and took 1/2 the party with him to Kadima. Right now, he just seems desperate for an electoral lane, against Bennett, Lapid, Eisenkot, even Lieberman.

Yes - it's akin to the prevalent use of the very neutral, unurgent "the situation" to describe the occupation and its oppression, lack of rights, etc. When "the Palestinians" become a concept, rather than real people, then it's easy to take this what's-the-hurry approach.

I'd put it this way: Golan wants eventual policy change, but exhibits no sense of urgency wrt the Palestinians. And that's probably because he seems to see Palestinians only through the lens of Israeli interests. Like Labor, unlike Meretz, he doesn't combine selflessness with self-interest.

Golan seems to believe he can shift policy *without* overly challenging people's outlook. That's what makes him a centrist. So my hope is that HaDemocratim can become a dominant center-left party, and that will facilitate the growth of a force to its left (as happened with Labor begetting Ratz).

"Left" is a curious term. For Israelis, Golan is left, even far-left. For lots of folks abroad, he's most certainly not. For me, Golan is legacy Labor - so center-left. Except that, unlike legacy Labor, he leads a smallish party to the left of all other predominantly Jewish parties!

This offers very different takeaways about Oslo's failure not noted by Golan. Inter alia, Oslo failed to: stop settlement growth, resolve final status up front, factor in spoilers. Therefore: "Phased processes must be swift or they shouldn’t happen at all." www.972mag.com/what-went-wr...

Clip of Golan making this argument at Tel Aviv Academic College's "Democracy Week" - www.facebook.com/reel/7415782...