Far too often when Americans meet a guy fluent in English, they think he is trustful and one of them. People as different as the Afghan President Karzai and the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu fall into that mold.
Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace. He thinks he can fool everyone with his rhetoric. However, by now, the United States Congress remains as the last important group foolish enough to believe his fairy tales.
Already last year, we mentioned Netanyahu’s counterproductive settlement policy. On September 27, 2011 the Israeli leader outdid himself. Shortly after his and Abbas’ UN speeches, the Israeli interior ministry announced the building of additional 1100 flats in East Jerusalem.
Just as a reminder, according to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem (al-Quds) should have been administrated by the UN. After ten years of this international regime, the residents of the city would have had the chance to decide upon the future regime of Jerusalem. Because of the 1948 war, this plan was never implemented. The British withdrew from Palestine. Israel declared its independence. By the end of the war, Jerusalem was divided with Israel controlling 12 of Jerusalem’s 15 Arab residential quarters. The old walled city came to lie entirely on the Jordanian side of the division line. Jordan formally annexed East Jerusalem in 1950. A move only recognized by the UK and Pakistan.
During the 1967 Six-Day War, Jordanian forces attacked Israeli-held West Jerusalem, but Israel managed to capture East Jerusalem as well as the entire West Bank. The entire history is very complicated and would fill an entire book. In short, Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and formally annexed it in 1980. This occupation has never been recognized internationally. In a peace deal, East Jerusalem should become part of the new Palestinian state.
In order to move towards peace, there must be a definitive end to additional Jewish settlements in the occupied areas. Why Obama backtracked regarding the settlement issue, remains a mystery. Netanyahu’s strategy remains unchanged: delay, delay, delay. Delay the establishment of a Palestinian state while publicly stating the opposite.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right that there should be a political solution through negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Unfortunately, he and his coalition government with Avigdor Lieberman and the ultra-orthodox parties and their settlement policies have become the main obstacle to a peace deal. George Mitchell resigned in May 2011 as Obama’s Middle East envoy, because Netanyahu refused to end his counterproductive settlement policy.
The Israeli prime minister would say that settlements have always continued under all previous Israeli governments. He does not realize that the situation has changed quite some time ago. With Abbas and Fayyad, he has credible and trustful partners on the Palestinian side. Furthermore, on September 23, 2011 the Middle East Quartet (US, UN, EU and Russia) has issued a new schedule for the resumption of negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian authority.
Its ambitious schedule asks for a preparatory meeting to agree an agenda and method of proceeding in the negotiation within a month. Comprehensive proposals on territory and security should be reached within six months. An agreement should be reached by the end of 2012.
The Israeli government officially supported the proposal, but resumed its settlement activity, knowing that the Palestinian side would refuse to resume negotiations under such conditions.
Benjamin Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace. He continues to live in his fairy-tale world. Like too many Israeli politicians, he thinks that Israel is at the center of the world. Although Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not totally innocent in this development, one of Netanyahu’s last “achievements” has been to alienate Israel’s strategic ally Turkey. If there should be a double dip, many Western governments will have other priorities than helping the Netanyahu government from being increasingly isolated. It could get very cold in Israel.
Books by & about Benjamin Netanyahu at Amazon US
An early biography of Netanyahu by Ben Kaspit and Ilan Kfir: Netanyahu: The Road to Power. 1998, 256 pages. Order the hardcover book from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk.
Article added on October 8, 2011.
