The even darker side of Israel

The upcoming international conference to relaunch Palestinian-Israeli peace efforts, sponsored by French President Francois Hollande and to be held in Paris on June 3, is rife with serious damaging problems precipitated by Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who expanded his government with extreme rightist elements.

A notorious replacement was Avigdor Lieberman, a Russian Jew who replaced Moshe Ya’alon, the defence minister — a step described by Amir Oren, a columnist for the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz, as a “black day for Israel, a day on which flags should fly at half-mast on all Israeli Defence Forces bases”.

Lieberman lives in Israeli-occupied West Bank, a region that is made up of only 22 per cent of the usurped Palestinian homeland.

The new defence minister’s party has a few members in the Knesset who could bolster Netanyahu’s poor standing; he has a majority of only one in the Knesset.

Netanyahu decried the projected French-sponsored conference, which will be attended by US Secretary of State John Kerry who disappointingly abandoned the Palestinian-Israeli negotiation in April 2014.

Also attending will be about two-dozen foreign ministers who are likely to stand against the Israeli position.

The arrogant Israeli prime minister insists that direct negotiations are the only path towards a lasting agreement with the Palestinians.

The 22-member Arab League expressed its support for the French initiative at a meeting last week in Cairo; it also supports “all Arab and international efforts” for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed that he “tried hard with the Israeli government to implement signed treaties and respect our and their commitments, but they refused”.

Speaking in Cairo before the Arab League meeting last week, Abbas advocated the presence of NATO forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as part of any peace deal that would implement the two-state solution.

He also rejected calling Israel a Jewish state, since a quarter of the population of Israel is made up of Muslim and Christian Arabs.

Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis have been invited to the Paris conference. But this initial meeting is expected to be followed by another, later this year, where the two sides are expected to participate.

Abbas, who welcomed the conference in France, emphasised that “the purpose must be to implement the visions of both states, based on the border agreement of 1967 and the capital of the Palestinian state being East Jerusalem, so that both countries can live side by side, in safety, stability and peace — if Israel wishes to seek peace”.

How secure the new Israeli government remains a serious issue in Israel.

The Times of Israel, quoting an Israeli TV report, said that “senior members of Israel’s government coalition believe the government may soon collapse, triggering elections with the next six months”.

The Israeli Channel 10 also quoted “unnamed political ‘party leaders’ as saying that Netanyahu’s bid to expand his multi-party coalition by bringing the hawkish Lieberman is likely to destroy the coalition.

Lieberman’s appointment as defence minister triggered the resignation of another Israeli Cabinet minister, Avi Gabbay, of Kulanu Party.

Another Israeli opposition leader, Isaac Herzog, who had been negotiating a partnership with Netanyahu until the prime minister chose Lieberman, refused to continue talks with Netanyahu. According to the Times of Israel, “Herzog has claimed that he was prepared to risk his political career to partner with Netanyahu because there was a rare opportunity for regional progress towards peace”, but Netanyahu “ran away” from that opportunity, and “opted instead to turn to the hardline Lieberman”.

Haaretz columnist Anshel Pfeffer had this to warn about in his recent column: “The reason we instinctively feel that Lieberman is dangerous is that he embodies more than any other powerful Israeli politician the fear of a different kind of Israel.” 

“He has become the symbol of a country where democracy is no longer a necessity but a luxury.”

All indications in Israel seem to point to the fact that Netanyahu may not have many days in office and a new election is a possibility, a step that could cripple the objective of the Paris conference.

The writer is a Washington-based columnist.