Is the Behavior Difficult to Explain?
Reader comment on item: Israel's Wayward Prime Ministers

Submitted by Joseph Berger (United States), Jul 14, 2004 at 19:17

Let me suggest a simpler explanation for the behavior of these Prime Ministers (which is different from but not inconsistent with yours). I am basing my argument on some recent work of Bueno De Mesquita and his colleagues (The Logic of Political Survival). Each of these prime ministers were interested in holding their office and getting re-elected. They believed that the majority of their countrymen were desirous of some sort of negotiated solution with the Palestinians. So they acted in accord with what they thought were the wishes of the majority of Israeli's. They are not the first nor will they be the last to so behave.

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