The End of the Road for the Palestinians

Less than a week from now Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to become the next leader of Israel. Judging by his pre-vote bombast, Netanyahu may just complete the settler takeover of the West Bank that progressed so rampantly during the Bush years. From The Guardian:

Under Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are likely to grow more rapidly, putting Israel at odds with the new US administration.

In a speech, Netanyahu said that rather than peace talks with the Palestinians about giving up territory, he favoured economic development – a plan of "economic peace". He has stopped short of endorsing a two-state solution that would see the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

It is a stance that is likely to draw criticism from Washington, particularly from new Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who wrote a report in 2001 explicitly calling for a halt to all settlement growth. Since then the Jewish settler population has increased significantly until today it stands at nearly 500,000 settlers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu has said he will not be bound by current prime minister Ehud Olmert's commitment to withdraw from some West Bank settlements and from large parts of the occupied territory as a whole. "I will not keep Olmert's commitments to withdraw and I won't evacuate settlements," Netanyahu was quoted as saying last week in the Ha'aretz newspaper. " Those understandings are invalid and unimportant."

Netanyahu presents a direct challenge to the Obama administration, one that could lead to a showdown. America alone has the means to compel Israel to comply with international law and end the illegal occupation of the West Bank. It's a challenge that grows harder by the day and unless the Israeli government is really allowing this expansion with any genuine willingness to force settler relocation to Israeli territory, Obama may have to engage Netanyahu in a test of will not previously experienced by Israeli leaders.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/04/israelandthepalestinians-usa

Do As I Say, Not As I Did

I'm no historian when it comes to Israeli politics so bear with me. Remarks being attributed to outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert reminded me of an article I read not too long ago that claimed outgoing Israeli leaders tell truths they were never willing to embrace while they held power.

The main truth is the one coming from Olmert today, namely that Israel will never achieve peace with the Palestinians and Syria until it returns the lands it seized in 1967. From The Globe & Mail:

"In an interview published in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper yesterday, a week after his formal resignation, Mr. Olmert said that Israelis need to make a "supremely difficult" decision about whether or not they really want to have peace with their neighbours. If the answer is yes, he said, Israel will have to withdraw its soldiers and settlers from the Golan Heights and nearly all of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."

What's radical about that? All Olmert is stating is what everybody knows. The profound part is that no Israeli leader has been willing to do what it takes.

Don't go spinning off into the usual uber-right diversions about Hamas or Hezbollah. Olmert, like his predecessors, didn't qualify his opinions with that nonsense because he knows that gets his country nowhere. That's Fox News drivel. Give Olmert and his Israeli predecessors a bit of credit. Maybe, just maybe, they understand their region's reality better than Sean Hannity and the rest of the rightwing rabble.