Netanyahu has no justification for not making peace

The indignant words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to foreign journalists this week exposed his hidden agenda for the future of this region.

His fury against a timetable for Israeli withdrawal of its military occupation forces within three years reveals his covert intentions to remain in the West Bank for an unlimited time as a force of aggression.

His attempt to sugar-coat his plans by talking about negotiations does not fool anybody; the Palestinians have not made any gains during the last 21 years of negotiations, since the signing of Oslo accords in 1993.

Neither US Secretary of State John Kerry nor European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini could induce the Israeli Cabinet to accept a new deal on a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict.

The recent moves at the United Nations have defused the tension and given some hope to the younger generation of Palestinians that a solution could be found.

These moves could calm their anger for some time, while waiting for a tangible move to put an end to the state of despair they live in. 

Desperation means a return to violence. A resurge in violence serves Netanyahu’s election campaign since it secures for him the votes of the Israeli public who believes his words that there is no Palestinian partner to talk to.

Radicalism feeds radicalism, and extremism feeds extremism.

The only beneficiaries of violence in Palestine are the ultraorthodox Likudniks who find in Netanyahu the best qualified statesman to cancel the Arab partners and alienate the Palestinian representatives.

It was Arab pressure that forced the permanent mission in New York to submit a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council setting a parameter for an end to the military occupation of Palestine within two or three years, following the merger of the text with the French version.

If Israel continues its adamant aggressive position, it is expected that more Latin American and African countries will adopt the same measures taken by Europe: The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg took Hamas off the EU’s terrorist list, the European Parliament passed a resolution backing Palestinian statehood, and there was a call at a meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to investigate Israel for violations of that convention.

Many politicians put their interests ahead of those of the country. They justify that Machiavellian policy as being pragmatic. 

But nothing justifies, in the case of Netanyahu, keen as he is to become the longest serving prime minister in Israel’s history, his move to abort the opportunity to make peace with the Palestinians within three years.