Benjamin Netanyahu's P.R. Stunt

First a disclaimer. When I was 8-- living in Flatbush and still thoroughly dependent on my family for information about the world-- Israel, Britain and France attacked Egypt, a response to Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal. President Eisenhower felt this wasn't America's war. He was correct but I felt it was mine and insisted that I be allowed to fly to Israel to join Moshe Dayan's forces. My parents prevailed and it was another 4 decades before I next had a hankering to go to Israel. Actually I didn't have a hankering at all. My friend Roland and I were spending a month going up the Nile. Roland, who was raised an atheist, was determined we also visit Jerusalem. It was just a bus ride away from Cairo and we went, although neither of us liked anything about the modern state of Israel. I'd come a long way from wanting to go kill Egyptians in the Sinai to feeling sympathetic to displaced Palestinians in their own homeland.

Yesterday Israeli's new right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu faked a concession for "solving" the Palestinian problem by appearing to buy into the concept of two separate states-- separate but far from equal, a position that reflects that of Israeli society in general. One would continue to be the preeminent military power in the region and the other would be allowed cap guns... as long as they're not too loud. In return for the Palestinians recognizing the unalterable Jewishness of the state of Israel, Netanyahu said they could have a small, disjointed demilitarized zone. In return for giving up their claims to East Jerusalem and their claims that descendants of Palestinian refugees would have the right to return to Israel, the Palestinians would get a promise that Israel would stop expanding existing settlements in their "country."

In his much anticipated, 30-minute speech that was broadcast live both in Israel and in much of the Arab world, the prime minister not only dealt with the two-state issue, but also confronted the contentious issue of settlement construction head-on, saying that he would not-- as the US and the Arab world are demanding-- freeze all settlement construction.

"The territorial question will be discussed as part of the final peace agreement," he said. "In the meantime, we have no intention of building new settlements or of expropriating additional land for existing settlements."

But, he added, "There is a need to enable the residents to live normal lives, to allow mothers and fathers to raise their children like families elsewhere. The settlers are neither the enemies of the people nor the enemies of peace. Rather, they are an integral part of our people, a principled, pioneering and Zionist public."

He also claimed sovereignty over Palestinian airspace and the right to dictate their foreign policy. His own far right Likud Party still opposes a Palestinian state of any kind and Netanyahu's prescription was unacceptable to extremists in his own ranks as well as to Palestinians. After laying out his own humiliating preconditions, he called on the Palestinians to start immediate talks "without preconditions."

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said in a statement that “Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about negotiations, but left us with nothing to negotiate as he systematically took nearly every permanent status issue off the table. Nor did he accept a Palestinian state.”

“Instead,” Mr. Erekat said, “he announced a series of conditions and qualifications that render a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state impossible.”

Although the Obama Administration said it was encouraged by Netanyahu's movement towards a two-state solution, they're not naive enough to think there was anything realistic about it. Erekat addressed President Obama directly telling him "the ball is in your court tonight. You have the choice tonight. You can deal with Netanyahu as a prime minister above the law, close the file of peace tonight and engulf the whole area in the direction of violence, chaos, extremism and bloodletting. The other choice is to make Netanyahu abide by the 'road map' plan for peace. The peace process has been moving at the speed of a tortoise. Tonight, Netanyahu has flipped it over on its back."