The Triumph and Tragedy of Greater Israel. Israel's New Politics and the Fate of Palestine. In my vision of peace, there are two free peoples living side by side in this small land, with good neighborly relations and mutual respect, each with its flag, anthem and government. . . . If we get a guarantee of demilitarization, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, we are ready to agree to a real peace agreement, a demilitarized Palestinian state side by side with the Jewish state.
—Benjamin Netanyahu, June 14, 2009 SEEMINGLY, IT was a historic moment. The prime minister of Israel and leader of the Likud Party publicly embraced the two-state solution. A short while into his second term in office, ten days after the newly inaugurated president of the United States promised in Cairo to “personally pursue this outcome,” Netanyahu declared an about-face, shifting from the traditional course he and his political camp had once pursued. Now it appeared that this dispute, which for decades had split Israeli society into rival political camps, could be resolved. Signs of a transitional moment in the Israeli-Palestinian dynamic.
The fragility of the Palestinian Authority and growing support within Israel for direct control over the West Bank are reshaping the political dynamic. President Abbas, former Egyptian President Mubarak, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama in a White House meeting. Time is running out for the Palestinian Authority (photo: Pete Souza / white house) There are growing signs that the occupation/Palestinian issue is undergoing one of its transitional moments, after which new forces will be at play.
On the surface, things are as static as they could be: Inside Israeli society, there is a total denial of the occupation – the Levy committee’s report being just one aspect of it. No major political forces are offering any new idea that could end the occupation. What's going on in Israel. One of the more enduring myths in the perennial debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict is the claim that Israel has always been interested in a fair and just peace, and that the only thing standing in the way of a deal is the Palestinians' commitment to Israel's destruction.
This notion has been endlessly recycled by Israeli diplomats and by Israel's defenders in the United States and elsewhere. Of course, fair-minded analysts of the conflict have long known that this pernicious narrative was bogus. They knew that former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (who signed the Oslo Accords) never favored creating a viable Palestinian state (indeed, he explicitly said that a future Palestinian entity would be "less than a state.
") The Palestinians' errors notwithstanding, they also understood that Prime Minister Ehud Barak's offers at Camp David in 2000 -- though more generous than his predecessors' -- still fell well short of a genuine two-state deal. Uriel Sinai/Getty Images. Ditching the status quo in Palestine. It has been a bad week at the office for the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership.
Last weekend, protests on successive days against the proposed meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Kadima Party head Shaul Mofaz were met with violent attacks by PA forces. The harassment and baton swings (including the targeting of the media) provoked yet another demonstration on Tuesday, where there were chants against Oslo, the PA, and the repression of dissent.
Groups like Amnesty International have also spoken out.
Oslo. The political economy of Israeli Occupation. The question of Jerusalem. The emperor has no clothes: Palestinians and the end of the peace process. The Emperor Has No Clothes: Palestinians and the End of the Peace Process. Middle East Report N°122 7 May 2012 Does anybody still believe in the Middle East Peace Process?
Nineteen years after Oslo and thirteen years after a final settlement was supposed to be reached, prospects for a two-state solution are as dim as ever. Singular Legal Regime Necessitates One-State Solution. This weekend, the Harvard University community will host its conference, "One-State Conference: Israel/Palestine and the One-State Solution".
Akiva Eldar: Israel’s West Bank policies render the two-state solution DOA — Israeli Occupation Archive. By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz – 27 Apr 2011 www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-west-bank-policies-render-the-two-state-solution-doa-1.358426 Despite Netanyahu’s rhetoric, the facts on the ground – illegal outposts, failure to abide by court rulings, unfettered settler activity- make peace a distant dream.
The very first meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama following the latter’s assumption of the American presidency was preceded by a dramatic decision by Israel’s Supreme Court. On May 18, 2009, the High Court of Justice issued gave the state 90 days to detail steps it had taken to dismantle six unauthorized outposts in the West Bank (Mitzpeh Lachish, Givat Asaf, Ramat Gilad, Ma’aleh Rehavam, Mitzpeh Yitzhar and Givat Haro’eh).
As with all outposts, the houses, roads and infrastructure in these locations had all been constructed illegally, some on private Palestinian land. Direct negotiations: Recipe for prolonging the occupation. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said this week that without a complete settlement freeze, talks with Israel will not resume. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “ Abbas has turned his back on peace with Israel .” Riz Khan - Gideon Levy on Middle East peace.