With the grim backdrop of the events in Iran, Netanyahu lays out his position:
…he came to the headline-making crux of his speech, his statement of what he, as prime minister and longtime right-wing leader, would be willing to accept if the Palestinians were to live up to his demands on them.
“In our vision,” he said, tensely and grimly, “we see two states side by side, each with its own flag and anthem. … We must make sure that the Palestinians cannot create an army. We cannot be expected to agree to a Palestinian state without receiving guarantees that it will be demilitarized. We ask the international community for an express commitment that the Palestinian state’s area will be demilitarized with effective measures — not like the ones in Gaza.”
Having then made that historic concession — first and foremost, to Obama — Netanyahu turned to the other bone of contention with the U.S. administration: the settlements.
Here — apart from the considerable ground Israel has already given in recent years — he gave no further ground, stating: “We do not intend to build new communities or expropriate land. But fathers and mothers in Judea and Samaria must have the possibility to let their children live beside them. The settlers are not enemies of the people; they are a pioneering, Zionist, values-oriented public. They are our brothers and sisters.” A direct rebuff, then, to the U.S. administration’s repeated calls for an end to “natural growth,” its implicit characterization of Jewish life — and procreation — in Judea and Samaria as near-criminal.
And that is a large concession, the allowance for a Palestinian State; as the linked article goes on to note, the mere utterance of those words is causing Netanyahu trouble in his political coalition. I think he’ll be able to ride the storm because any alternate government in Israel would be less firm than Netanyahu, but the fact remains that Netanyahu went a long way towards Obama’s position. And now it is the Palestinian’s turn.
The key to peace in Israel is for the Palestinians to have leaders who do not make their living by fanning hatred of Israel as a cover for their brutal and corrupt rule. This is the bare bones truth – its not about religion or 1947 or incursions in to Gaza or Israeli communities outside Israel’s 1967 borders…it is about the determination of a small clique in the Palestinian community to rule the roost unchallenged. The sooner we stop thinking that the goons in charge of Gaza are other than a heavily armed mafia, the quicker we’ll arrive at a solution. They must stop – there must be a cessation of any attempts to use hatred of Israel and/or Jews as a means of cementing the control of a few thugs.
To me, it comes down to the Palestinians turning out their leadership or us carving out a new territory for them in parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Israel deserves peace. Israel has gone far to secure peace. There’s not much more Israel can do outside of the fact that Netanyahu has agreed, in principle, that one part of his nation will be only 9 miles wide with sworn enemies on the other side of the border. Imagine us being willing to make peace by having Washington, DC three quarters surrounded by enemies and those enemies only 9 miles away from the most vital part of the United States – that is the sort of concession Israel has given. Now its time for the Palestinians to do their part.
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