IMRA Weekly Commentary..
18 March '15..
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu isn’t looking for a photo op to mark his upcoming likely final term as prime minister of the State of Israel.
He wants this term to be his legacy.
And to position himself after the term as the elder statesman whose advice future Israeli prime ministers seek out.
This makes the internal dynamics of this legacy term fundamentally different than any term before it.
Because in the legacy term, top performing ministers aren’t Netanyahu’s rivals for the top spot – they are instead competing to excel so that they might earn his endorsement to serve as prime minister at the conclusion of the term.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is also determined that his legacy term successfully addresses key social-welfare issues such as the cost of housing. And the ministers assigned to these issues can expect both Netanyahu’s unprecedented support, as well as his intensive monitoring to ensure that they don’t drop the ball.
Netanyahu isn’t seeking a Nobel Peace Prize for his mantle. And he certainly isn’t going to pay for one with the keys to the Old City, or any other city for that matter.
As you read this commentary no doubt there are Israeli politicians already encouraging their colleagues in the EU and elsewhere to turn the screws on the Jewish State.
It’s not that they want to hurt us.
They just believe that they know what’s good for Israel and if they can’t set policy via the ballot box they will do whatever they can to impose their policies via other means.
How far will this go?
Suffice it to say that since the demand for concessions is insatiable, an approach that doesn’t feed the concessions Moloch may be the least costly.
I expect to see some modus vivendi developed between us and the Palestinians as part of the legacy. Not one marked by withdrawals, but some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement.
Some version of Bennett’s plan to extend Israeli law to Area C with Palestinians residing there able to become full Israeli citizens? Perhaps.
I certainly anticipate programs that dramatically improve the lot of the Palestinians.
Already in the days before the elections, Israel dropped restrictions on the entry into Israel of Palestinian women and men over age 50 and 55, respectively, as it lowered the minimum age for work permits to 22 and dropped the requirement that workers have at least one child.
Challenges?
Yes. Many.
But tremendous excitement, and, yes, hope.
Not hope that some third party will deliver salvation as we sit waiting on the sidelines.
Hope as we work together to strive to make these coming years all that they can be.
Link: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=66723
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Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations
Website: www.imra.org.il
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