Bibi Netanyahu is being shaken out of his lethargy by the imminent threat that the Quartet may announce its recognition of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders as early as next week. To shock the other right-wingers in his coalition out of their stupor he’s raised the bi-national state bogeyman:
…Netanyahu is expected in the coming weeks to put forward a peace initiative in a bid to break through the deadlock in the peace process and extricate Israel from international isolation.
Netanyahu has warned in recent days during closed meetings that “a binational state would be disastrous for Israel,” and therefore it is necessary to undertake a political move that will remove this threat.
…“This trend will intensify and become stronger,” Netanyahu told his advisers. “However there are those in Israel who think that one state is a good idea. I think it is a disaster.”
I’m not sure how or why he equates a Quartet recognition of a Palestinian state with a bi-national state. Perhaps he thinks that the words “bi” (as in bi-national) and “two” as in “two states” mean the same thing…Or maybe he just can’t count.
At any rate, if you’re like me I know you’ve been wowed by Bibi’s new “peace initiative” which would–are you sitting down–declare temporary borders for a Palestinian state that would include 65% of the West Bank! Such a handsome, generous offer. How could any self-respecting Palestinian turn it down? Bibi reminds me a bit of the shopkeeper who sets a price for his merchandise with a customer, then when the customer hesitates he names a higher price and is shocked when the customer becomes angry. 65%? What’s so bad about that? It’s better than 0% isn’t it?
But the real laugher is this passage from the Haaretz story (whoever said Israeli leaders weren’t jokesters?):
Netanyahu would like to announce his peace plan in a speech in the coming weeks. One of the ideas being considered is that Netanyahu would speak before a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to Washington for an AIPAC conference in May, but his advisers are trying to move the trip to an earlier date. Discussion of a speech before a joint session was central to the talks between the Prime Minister’s Office and the White House.
A well-positioned Israeli source said that at this stage U.S. President Barack Obama and his advisers are reluctant to run with the idea over fears it has the imprint of talks between Netanyahu’s advisers and Republic Congressmen. Moreover, the White House is not yet convinced that Netanyahu’s speech will have sufficient substance for it to constitute a political breakthrough.
“Not yet convinced?” If there’s any chance that Obama could be convinced that this initiative has even a shred of substance, then he might just as well ask Bibi to piss on his back and call it rain. It’s not so much that this cockamamie idea is a Republican contrivance, it’s that Bibi is attempting to use Obama and the U.S. Congress as a fig leaf to conceal his absolute inertness when it comes to negotiating seriously for a deal. To the Obamaites I say, repeat after me: this plan is not a breakthrough, it’s a sham. S-H-A-M. It fools nobody. If it fools you, then shame on you.
What they should do when Bibi talks about an interim deal based on temporary borders is hold up flash cards that spell out: 1-9-6-7. That would be a suitable answer. The Obamaites may not have a Middle East policy when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But at least they’re not fools. If they go for this, then they are.
“why he equates a Quartet recognition of a Palestinian state with a bi-national state”
because after the general assembly recognises Palestine, and after Israel doesn’t the Palestinians will move to plan b: one big happy binational state, a disaster indeed.
why should Obama flash 1-9-6-7? he couldn’t get a three month settlements freeze but you think he’ll get 1967? it will be political suicide for Obama to do this, Bush 1 was toppled for less.
there is a good chance Bibi is blowing smoke, but there is a tiny chance he is serious, i hope he is, i see three options: a kalam fadi “bar ilan 2” speech, a please-refuse-this offer to the Pals for a 65% share of the West Bank, and a real deal where if the Arabs say no the EU and US support a second hitnatkut, to the barrier.
i thought Sharon was lying about leaving Gaza untill weeks before it happened.
After the General Assembly recognizes Palestine, and after Israel doesn’t the Palestinians will no doubt stick with plan A. They will demand that the ICC Prosecutor act on their existing complaint and investigate violations of Article 8(2)b(viii) of the Rome Statute committed on the territory of Palestine since 2002, i.e. The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;
Recognition of statehood is always retroactive in effect and validates all of the acts of the government so recognized. The General Assembly already acknowledged the 1988 Declaration which named the PLO the provisional government of the State of Palestine.
Netanyahu’s only alternative to avoid that unpleasant prospect is to either continue to delay the international recognition of the existence of any Palestinian state (by making an unacceptable offer to the Palestinians) or to create a binational union. The notion that the General Assembly will accept a continuation of the status quo is simply untenable.
What ought to scare Israel is not declarations of states (with or without boundaries), or even recognition of states (ditto), but something else: the prospect of a world-wide agreement to create actual pressure upon Israel.
So far there have been 62 years of “mere words” from the UNGA, etc. And Israel has grown to care nothing for anyone’s words. International law, is of course, nothing but words, UNLESS AND UNTIL the international community finds the resolve to ACT in support of law.
Such resolve is VERY SLOW IN COMING. But once it come (I am not ready yet to say, once it comes) the actions may be unpredictable.
Think of Israel’s siege on Gaza. And now imagine an international siege on Israel. You get the idea.
The problem for Israel is that it will only take one or two states to open the floodgates. The crimes that it has been accused of committing have no statute of limitations despite provisions to the contrary in some municipal laws or the temporal limitations of the Rome Statute.
The example of John Demjanjuk and others illustrate that forever is a long time and that extradition and criminal prosecution do not require an international tribunal, just intergovernmental cooperation.
Yes, it would be very nice to see some international pressure being brought to bear on the situation. Its application is certainly well overdue and that by several decades. Makes you wonder just what it was we were all doing during those intervening years.
The reason why no such concerted action has ever been taken in the past is simply because all the international bodies have never been able to get their act sufficiently together. American administrations always have their Republican right-wing to contend with, the AIPAC contingent are not exactly without influence in the matter and then there are those Evangelicals with that strange affinity for their long awaited ‘rapture.’ The Europeans have their guilt complex to expiate and most Arab rulers have become so reliant on either American largesse or muscle that they themselves cannot initiate much pressure in their own right. That is even if they wanted to. The Israeli-Palestinian struggle has been something of a God-send as far as many of them were concerned.
Although it must be allowed that events, of late, have begun to thin their ranks quite a bit.
I can’t see the problem improving very much in the short-term. Even the long-term looks a trifle bleak. Unless the combined might of the international community can guide, cajole or prod the whole process towards some substantial pan-Arab, pan European, pan-American and pan-Jewish conclusion, nothing of substance is likely to be achieved. And the fact that hundreds of Israeli nuclear missiles sit in fairly close proximity to Arab ‘lakes’ of highly combustible oil, make Armageddon and the ‘rapture’ sometimes look like a done deal.
I believe it to be in all our interests to come up with some means of defusing the situation before it gets way beyond any power on earth to stop it boiling over into total destruction. We need an international consensus and an international approval to do whatever must be done to settle the issues once and for all.
And let’s hope for all our sakes that we haven’t left it just that little bit too late.
RE:”To the Obamaites I say, repeat after me: this plan is not a breakthrough, it’s a sham. S-H-A-M. It fools nobody. If it fools you, then shame on you.” – R.S.
MY COMMENT: I seriously doubt they give a tinker’s damn what any of us “low rollers” think.
SEE: Barack Obama reelection starts cash chase, by Glenn Thrush, Politico, 03/04/11
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50643.html#ixzz1FgqUaGzD