Netanyahu's Two-State Gambit

Netanyahu's Two-State Gambit

When Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu spoke the other day at Bar Ilan University, it was a much anticipated speech in Israel, as well as for the Obama administration, the EU, and the political representatives of the Palestinians and Arabs.

The speech is now being appraised through various interpretive lenses by different political constituencies both within Israel and beyond its borders. First, from the domestic Israeli perspective, now the entire political landscape, from Labour to Kadima and Likud, support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For the sake of pragmatism and under pressure from the Obama administration, Netanyahu uttered the words "Palestinian state." He said Israelis did not want to rule over the Palestinians. That the Palestinian state should be de-militarized and recognize the Jewish character of Israel was predictably rejected by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and Egyptian autocrat Muabarak. Netanyahu echoed the prevailing Israeli view when he said that the Holocaust did not create Israel, but the presence of Jews in the ancient land of Israel created a Jewish national consciousness and the modern desire for statehood. Had there been a Jewish state in the inter-war years when Fascism and Nazism dramatically rose, there would have been no Holocaust, opined the Israeli PM.

Second, the Palestinians and Arab states have generally come out against Netanyahu's speech. A Jewish state undermines the possibility of a one-state solution, which most Arabs and Palestinians favour for demographic, political, and religious reasons. Israel is still viewed as an illegitimate, colonial, racist Jewish outpost and an usurper of holy Palestinian Muslim land by the vast majority of the Arab world. A Jewish state would recognize what is anathema for Arabs and Muslims in general: Jewish dominant control over Muslim land. This type of outdated thinking undermines the possibility for a solution and helps perpetuate the conflict. In addition, Arabs were unhappy with Jerusalem as an "undivided" capital of Israel and Netanyahu's refusal to halt "natural growth" in settlements.

Third, the EU is happy with Netanyahu's overtures, but will not yet upgrade ties with Israel. For economic, geostrategic, and domestic reasons, the EU has traditionally tended to take a more pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian foreign policy than either the US or Canada.

Finally, Netanyahu's speech was most interested in pleasing the new US administration under President Obama. Israelis want to logically be on good terms with their major ally. So Netanyahu essentially uttered the dream, if not the full substance, of the Israeli left: Two states for two peoples living in "amity". Very few Israelis now do not support the two-state solution, for both pragmatic and moral reasons. The right-wing secular and religious fanatics of "Greater Israel" are slowly being squeezed out of the political landscape. Yet, if the conflict continues to fester, their attitudes and supporters will grow and harden. Similarly, the continuing lack of solution since Oslo's failure fuels radicals among Palestinians and the Arab world.

Netanyahu is not so far from Arab peace initiatives proposed in 2005 and 2007. He has welcomed all Arab leaders to seek full diplomatic relations with Israel and agreed in principle to a Palestinian state. If we get hung up on the details, we won't begin negotiations. This would be a pity and more lives will be lost. Palestinians and Israelis, as well as Israelis and Arabs, must talk officially and afford full recognition to each other. If a so-called right-wing "radical" like Netanyahu can say yes to two states, Palestinians and Arabs might also be more flexible on recognizing a Jewish state. Hope will only come through dialogue and compromise. Not by sticking to winner-take-all-formulas. And for opening the window of fresh air in the entire Middle East (e.g., the Iranian protests, Lebanese election results, and Netanyahu's conciliatory speech), we should all thank Obama.

Tamir Bar-On