By Stan Goodenough
Nov 05, 2008
Two arch-leftists recently announced their intention to drop out of politics and enter the private sector.
On October 28, former Meretz Party head, "land-for-war" promoter Yossi Beilin said he was bowing out.
Described as a co-architect of the Oslo "Peace" Process (along with Shimon Peres), Beilin is being "credited" with having changed the political landscape in Israel and charting the course towards a "new Middle East" that - a decade-and-a-half after he oversaw illegal meetings with PLO terrorists - is no nearer to coming into being than it was back then.
Beilin also claims credit for Israel's 2000 unilateral pullout from southern Lebanon; a move that led directly to the meteoric rise in power and influence of the Hizb'allah terror group and the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Barely had Beilin announced his resignation than fellow Meretz veteran Ran Cohen let it be known that he too was retiring from the ring.
The Jerusalem Post described Cohen, a reserve IDF colonel, as Meretz's "only authority on security issues and its spokesman on socioeconomic issues."