Why Kerry Is Scary
Why Kerry Is Scary
by Thomas Friedman at the NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/opinion/friedman-why-kerry-is-scary.html
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The Kerry Plan, likely to be unveiled soon, is expected to call for an end to the conflict and all claims, following a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (based on the 1967 lines), with unprecedented security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley. The Israeli withdrawal will not include certain settlement blocs, but Israel will compensate the Palestinians for them with Israeli territory. It will call for the Palestinians to have a capital in Arab East Jerusalem and for Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. It will not include any right of return for Palestinian refugees into Israel proper.
Kerry expects and hopes that both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will declare that despite their reservations about one or another element in the U.S. framework, they will use it as the basis of further negotiations.
This is where things will get interesting. U.S. and Israeli officials in close contact with Netanyahu describe him as torn, clearly understanding that some kind of two-state solution is necessary for Israels integrity as a Jewish democratic state, with the healthy ties to Europe and the West that are vital for Israels economy. But he remains deeply skeptical about Palestinian intentions or as Netanyahu said here Tuesday: I do not want a binational state. But we also dont want another state that will start attacking us. His political base, though, which he nurtured, does not want Netanyahu making a U-turn.
Which is why although Netanyahu has started to prepare the ground here for the U.S. plan if he proceeds on its basis, even with reservations, his coalition will likely collapse. He will lose a major part of his own Likud Party and all his other right-wing allies. In short, for Netanyahu to move forward, he will have to build a new political base around centrist parties. To do that, Netanyahu would have to become, to some degree, a new leader overcoming his own innate ambivalence about any deal with the Palestinians to become Israels most vocal and enthusiastic salesman for a two-state deal, otherwise it would never pass.
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