IMRA Weekly Commentary..
29 April '15..
Keep your eye on the phrase “commitment to a two-state solution” when you read the next two paragraphs that are an excerpt from Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s remarks last Monday to the Religious Action Committee of Reform Judaism:
“As we’ve said, it’s true that Prime Minister Netanyahu raised questions about his government’s commitment to a two-state solution… in comments he made right before and right after the Israeli election. Now he’s working to form a government, as we speak, with a deadline approaching and I certainly don’t and won’t want to get ahead of that process. We will be watching very closely to see what happens after a new government is formed on this issue of working towards two states living side by side in peace and security.
If the new Israeli government is seen as stepping back from its commitment to a two-state solution, something that all of you and a vast majority of American Jews supports, that makes our job in the international arena a lot tougher. Because our ability to push back on efforts to internationalize efforts to address Israeli-Palestinian issues has depended on our insistence that the best course in achieving a two-[state] solution is through direct negotiation between the parties.”
OK.
Now what did Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ACTUALLY say?
He gave his honest assessment that for the short term and midterm - namely the period of his next administration - that it will not be possible to implement a “two-state solution”.
Again. Mr. Netanyahu didn’t say he OPPOSED “two states living side by side in peace and security”. He just, given current conditions, does not believe that such an arrangement could be achieved in the next four or so years.
And he is hardly alone in this assessment.
I daresay that the overwhelming majority of experts on Arab Israeli affairs - regardless of their political leaning - share this assessment.
It comes down to this: how should a responsible leader of the Jewish State plan for the next four years given that DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND ISRAEL’S
CONTROL “two states living side by side in peace and security” is not in the cards?
Now I can appreciate that Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman would prefer that PM Netanyahu keep this to himself and goes through the motions as if “two states living side by side in peace and security” is just around the corner. But there is also a cost to limiting ourselves to “going through the motions”. We live here and the Palestinians live here and we can't put our collective lives on hold.
OK.
Let’s step back for a moment and read Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s words again, this time hoping that she has enough sense to realize that “two
states living side by side in peace and security” is NOT within the planning horizon.
“our ability to push back on efforts to internationalize efforts to address Israeli-Palestinian issues has depended on our insistence that the best course in achieving a two-[state] solution is through direct negotiation between the parties”
OK
A Security Council veto is an “ability” that the United State of America has. Period.
As for”efforts to internationalize efforts to address Israeli-Palestinian issues” outside the UNSC, I would like to suggest a simple revision: “the best course in achieving solutions is through direct negotiation between the parties”
That’s “solutions”.
We have problems every day and we do indeed typically solve them through direct contact.
In point of fact, over the past months we have intensified our problem “solving” efforts. With conditions and arrangements constantly improving.
Let’s put this all in context:
Our neighborhood is in terrific turmoil and our Sunni neighbors are profoundly more interested in weathering all the existential challenges WITH Israel than in giving any kind of priority to creating a sovereign Palestinian state.
The rest of the world is also not in the best of shape such that a Palestinian state - rhetoric notwithstanding - is not really at the top of anyone’s “do list”.
So while it may not be as pleasant a task to back Israel as it would be (at least in the short run) if we were suicidally blind to reality, it is hardly a significantly taxing effort for the most powerful nation in the world.
Link: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=67134
IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, was founded in 1992, by Drs. Aaron and Joseph Lerner, as an ongoing analysis of developments in Arab-Israeli relations. Awarded credentials by the Government of Israel as a news organization, IMRA provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events.
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.
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