Caroline Glick
carolineglick.com
01 January '10
Upon returning from Cairo on Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu proclaimed, "It's time to move the peace process forward."
The most sympathetic interpretation of Netanyahu's proclamation is that he was engaging in political theater. It was a low and dishonest statement uttered at the end of what has been, in the immortal words of W.H. Auden, "a low and dishonest decade."
Everyone with eyes in their heads knows that there is no chance of making peace with the Palestinians. First of all, the most Israel is willing to give is less than what the Palestinians are willing to accept.
But beyond that, Gaza is controlled by Hamas, and Hamas is controlled by Iran.
For its part, Fatah is not in a position to make peace even if its leaders wished to. Mahmoud Abbas and his deputies know that just as Hamas won the 2006 elections in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, Hamas would win elections today. To maintain even a smudge of domestic legitimacy, Fatah's leaders have no choice but to adopt Hamas's rejection of peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state.
Clearly, now is not the time "to move the peace process forward."
No less than what it tells us about Netanyahu, his statement is notable for what it tells us about Israel. Our continued willingness to ensnare ourselves in the rhetoric of peace processes demonstrates how little we have progressed in the past decade.
In 1999, Netanyahu was ejected from office by an electorate convinced that he was squandering an historic opportunity for peace between Israel and its neighbors. A majority of Israelis believed that Netanyahu's signature policies of demanding that the Palestinians abide by their commitments to Israel, and maintaining the IDF's security zone in south Lebanon were dooming all hope for peace.
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Unfortunately for Israel, Netanyahu no longer believes in his former statements, since he learned what the stupid voters taught him: that it does not pay to be honest.
ReplyDeleteNow that some people are awake to the fact that Iran can use its proxy - Hamas - to attack Israel from within, and its other proxy - Hizbollah - to attack Israel from without, you would think that people would be screaming their heads off about stupid statements like this one from Netanyahu. He is only interested in protecting his power and his paycheck; but what will become of us if any of these suicidal policies actually will become reality?
May Heaven help us from our own ISRAELI politicians and our unedecucated voters.