Announcement of new settlements signal challenge to US

The Arab media is making too much fuss about the new Israeli cabinet decision to build 1,100 new settlements in Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territories, with the target of accommodating nearly 6,000 more ultra-orthodox settlers. The alarm raised in such a way is not totally justified since the sum total of settlers is nearly 600,000 Israelis, living in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Having few thousand more will not alter the demographic balance in a seismic way. The move by Economy Minister Naphtali Bennett of the right-wing Jewish Home Party is meant as a protest signal against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his new unity government, in which Hamas managed to share power along with Fateh through seven undisclosed ministers named for their allegiance to Hamas, but introduced as politically colourless technocrats.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intended the mass media announcements for construction of the new settlements as a challenge to the United States that he can cause more trouble in the region unless US Secretary of State John Kerry listens to Israeli dictates regarding the Iranian nuclear file.

It is true that during the last six months Washington distanced itself from many political exigencies that several Arab emirs and Israeli higher echelons wanted the Barack Obama administration to be involved in, including a punitive strike against Damascus for its alleged use of chemical weapons on August 21, 2013, which reportedly killed around 1,400 Syrians.

Many people in this region were shocked and furious by the sudden U-turn that the White House took regarding the soothingly smooth poetic language of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which made the United States cancel many of the economic sanctions imposed on Tehran due to its noncompliance with the legality of what is considered a proper international behaviour.

Israel uses a clever process of elicitation to make Washington interfere in the construction of settlements issue in Palestinian territories in order to exact a high price in return from the White House regarding the Iranian nuclear deal.

But Israel is oblivious to the fact that there have been many changes of political priorities in this region, including those serving the interests of Washington or Iran.

Iran no longer considers the White House as the “Great Satan”, nor does Obama see Tehran as part of the “Axis of Evil”.

It is this contextual change of political priorities that induced Kerry last week in Beirut to accept formulas considered by Hizbollah as a must for a smooth transfer of power.

The same change in political priorities led to the marginalisation of 12 million Sunnis in Iraq, which has a population of 36 million.

It is the same change that made world capitals recognise the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as one of the key players in the tragic Syrian imbroglio.

Israel underestimated the changes that led the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad and Hamas to become partners in the Palestinian decision-making process.

It might be high time for Israel to sober up from its intoxication due to military arrogance and territorial conquest.