Palestinians will ride Netanyahu’s coattails right into statehood

[n2doc]

WRITTEN BY

Riccardo Fabiani

...From a foreign policy perspective, Israel will face an increasingly hostile environment both regionally and internationally. The re-election of Netanyahu and the markedly right-wing nature of his next government are likely to exacerbate diplomatic tensions with Europe and to a lesser extent Barack Obama’s administration, while aggravating the already tense relations with the Palestinian population.

The right-wing majority is likely to pursue a series of controversial policies, such as the adoption of the Jewish nationhood bill as well as the construction of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. These decisions will exacerbate already heightened tensions with the Palestinian leadership as well as the current US administration and most European governments.

In turn, this will only accelerate the Palestinians’ plan to obtain unilateral statehood at the UN and boost recognition among European countries. Moreover, the risk of a “Third Intifada” will also increase. Although over the past months violence in East Jerusalem has failed to spill over into the West Bank, the Arab population is losing its remaining confidence in the Israeli authorities’ ability to solve the underlying causes of their discontent. Economically, this government will continue to implement market-friendly policies and will only increase welfare spending marginally to appease the ultra-Orthodox constituencies.

Netanyahu may have triumphed at the polls. But with a fractious, controversy-prone coalition, his victory is likely to be fleeting.

http://qz.com/365928/palestinians-will-ride-netanyahus-coattails-right-into-statehood/

[Spazito]

1. The last UN Security Council resolution on the establishment of a Palestinian State was...

only one vote short of passing. Out of 15 votes, 8 countries voted for it, 5 abstained and only the US and Australia voted against it. If the US had voted for it, it would have passed.

"Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said that the resolution was “deeply imbalanced,” setting deadlines that did not adequately take account of Israel’s security needs. “Today’s staged confrontation in the U.N. Security Council will not bring the parties closer to achieving a two-state solution,” she said. “This resolution sets the stage for more division, not for compromise.”

Yet Ms. Power also cautioned Israel against interpreting the vote as “a victory for an unsustainable status quo” and said continued “settlement activity” would also undermine the chances for peace."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/31/world/middleeast/resolution-for-palestinian-state-fails-in-security-council.html

With the exposure of the lie that Israel's leader is committed to a two state solution, the reason for the US to continue to block future resolutions on this issue has also disintegrated, imo.

It certainly appears there is a 're-think' going on when it comes to this issue:

"Meanwhile, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki implied that although the US still prefers direct negotiations toward an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, she could not promise that the US would continue to defend Israel against unilateral actions in support of Palestinian statehood in either the International Criminal Court or the United Nations.

“We are not going to get ahead of any decisions with regard to what the US would do during any vote at the United Nations Security Council,” Psaki said in a press briefing, leaving open the possibility that the US could amend its long-held policy of using its Security Council veto power to block anti-Israel resolutions.

With chief PA negotiator with Israel, Saeb Erakat, telling AFP that the Palestinians would “accelerate, continue and intensify” their diplomatic efforts to increase pressure on Israel, such a move by the US could have serious ramifications."

http://www.timesofisrael.com/american-officals-warn-of-change-in-israel-us-ties/

[LittleBlue]

2. I was actually pleased at the results

The mask has slipped. No more so-called moderates paying lip service to the two-state solution while privately having no intention of following through.

Finally an Israeli leader honest about his apartheid attitudes. Now the world can no longer pretend. If they do nothing, then the Palestinians will know that the situation is hopeless and that western powers have been complicit.

The west hates Bibi not because he trashed the two-state solution, but because he's forcing them to do something.

[DirkGently]

3. I'm in that camp as well.

Now everyone can stop arguing over whether Nutty Yahoo's policies are really this extreme.

They are. So the only remaining question is, why we would tolerate this treatment of anyone, by anyone, nevermind enabling it with $3 billion a year in weapons and money.

[DirkGently]

4. UPDATE: Looks like it's happening already.

“I actually share president Obama’s views much more than David Cameron’s,” Clegg said during his weekly radio phone-in show on LBC. “It is extremely worrying – it cannot be more alarming – to have seen Binyamin Netanyahu do something which no leading Israeli politician has ever done – to rule out the prospect of a two-state solution.”

Clegg said he hoped Netanyahu’s comments had been “breathless rhetoric which he is now going to row back from”, but that if the Israeli prime minister continued to rule out a two-state solution and expand illegal settlements “the world, including the British parliament, would have no option, inevitably, but to recognise a Palestinian state”.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/19/nick-clegg-netanyahu-two-state-solution-lib-dem-israeli-palestinian

[iandhr]

5. Historically it's always been the Palestinians who shoot themselves in the foot.

This time it's Bibi. Go figure.