This Week's Message 

Elections in the dark cellar

This week, Israel

Goes to the polls.

The election campaign

In the past months

Was conducted on

Two separate floors.

On the brightly lit

Upper floor

The Israeli public is

Split and polarized between

Two evenly-matched camps,

Headed for a decision

By a hair's breadth majority.

One bloc seeks to Return Netanyahu To power,

Along with his partners

From the extreme right

And the even more extreme right.

The other bloc

Is determined

To stop Netanyahu

And protect what remains

Of Israeli democracy.

While this struggle wages

On the top floor,

A completely different struggle

Is underway in

The dark basement.

In the Occupied Territories,

Only the settlers have the vote.

They will go to polling stations

In their fortified enclaves.

Many of them will vote for

The extreme right.

All around them are

Millions of Palestinians

Who have no share

In Israel’s democracy.

For the last 55 yearsThey have lived under

A tough and brutal

Military dictatorship

Imposed on them

By the government

That the Israelis elect.

Exactly when the Israelis

Go to the polls,

Young Palestinians

Take up arms,

In rebellion

Against occupation and oppression.

Only a few in

The Israeli political system

Dare to point out

The direct connection between

The oppression in the Occupied Territories

And the threat to democracy

In Israel itself.

These voices must be

Sustained and strengthened

In the elections on November 1.