Will Israel end Double-talks and

ensure Palestine state and Mideast peace?

By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

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State terrorism is as usual business for a fascist Israel killing defenseless Palestinians because it has ensured the support of the US-led west and all other anti-Islamic nations like India and their forces. After obtaining recognition of Western powers and their anti-Islamic allies for Israel's terrorism, the Jewish occupiers of Palestine, on the military strength built up the colonialist and imperialist powers led by USA and UK, still insist that they are the owners of Palesitne and Palestinians cannot have a free Palestine. Foremr Israeli premeir Netanyahu, 59, taking office as Israel’s new leader again, promised to seek "full peace" with the Arab and Muslim world, but refused to utter the words Palestinian state the world was waiting to hear for too long. 

Even as Major General Andy Salmon has transferred authority for what will become Multi-National Division South to US Major General Michael Oates, Netanyahu who earlier dismissed peace talks with the Palestinians, supported expanding West Bank illegal settlements and warned that concessions only embolden Israel’s enemies, has taken over the reigns of power from the much maligned Olmert. Netanyahu’s agenda cannot be entirely different from what he pursued in 1990s pushing the defenseless Palestinians to the walls of terror and holocaust. 

Double-speak

Israel considers non-Jews as their enemies. Netanyahu's fractious first term, from 1996-1999, was marked by bad relations with the Palestinians, failed peacemaking with Syria, alienated allies, an inability to rein in an unruly Parliament and corruption allegations that didn't stick. He now succeeds Ehud Olmert, who was forced from office by multiple corruption investigations. Outgoing premier Ehud Olmert has urged his successor to seize a "historic' chance for peace, saying there was no alternative to the two-state solution.  In a farewell address, Olmert gave an emotional defense of his three-year tenure. He said wars in Lebanon and Gaza under his watch dealt heavy blows to Israel’s enemies.

Double-speak remains the hall mark of lectures given by the neo-imperialistic and colonialist leaders around the world and the Israeli leaders make a case in point. Even as British forces have begun their official withdrawal from Iraq after the UK’s commander in the south of the country handed over to a US general, preparing to become Israel's prime minister, new Israeli premier Netanyahu adopted a more conciliatory tone, reflecting the same pragmatic streak that in the past allowed him to navigate complex domestic and global politics. The well-spoken, U.S.-educated hawk took pains to portray himself as a pragmatist, telling a packed parliament that Israel does not want to rule the Palestinians. Netanyahu said in comments that appeared to hark back to a decades-old notion that peace could be achieved through limited Palestinian autonomy. The hawkish Jewish politician who also killed and tortured thousands of Palestinians has returned to the premiership a decade after being forced from it amid a string of failures.

Israel continues to play tricks to fool not only the Arab nations, and Islamic world, but the entire world. Netanyahu’s words drew a sharp reaction from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "I want to say to Netanyahu that the only way the Palestinians can rule themselves, by themselves, is through ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and establishing an independent Palestinian state". Netanyahu's refusal to embrace the idea of Palestinian statehood could put him at odds with the Obama administration and much of the rest of the world. So could his decision to appoint ultranationalist politician Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister.

Global reaction to Israeli Fascism

But then, Israel has known how the world reacts and how to deal with even the Muslim nations. In order to keep the Arab world in good humours, Netanyahu praised Islamic culture as "great and rich," and said Israel and moderate Arab states could find common ground fighting radical Islam which is indeed seeking peace in the region and what he called the “extremist regime” in Tehran supporting Hamas. “Israel has always, and today more than ever, striven to reach full peace with the entire Arab and Muslim world," he said. A spokesperson in Tel-Aviv said USA is applying pressure on the new regime and Netanyahu is reforming and he would accept the much hailed two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the next few weeks, perhaps ahead of a planned trip to the USA. Does that mean Netanyahu would join the ranks of hard-line Israeli leaders such as Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon, who changed their minds about giving up land and ended up making far-reaching concessions. In his speech, Netanyahu singled out Iran The greatest danger to humanity, and to our country Israel as Israel’s biggest threat and urged the world to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

However, so far there is no indication that Netanyahu's latest conciliatory statements are anything more than words designed to curry favor with the West. He has not retracted his promise to press ahead with construction in West Bank settlements to make room for settlers' growing families. And his new government includes many ministers opposed to territorial compromise, including a housing minister from an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party that sees giving up land as a “betrayal of God's will”.

Like rogues and thieves, Israel harps on the “logic’ that it is under siege and it “shall not allow anybody or any country to put any question mark over our existence." Like a global fraud, Netanyahu warned that "radical Islam is trying to eradicate us" and noted that Israel is battling militant Islamic groups on both its northern and southern borders.

 The latest Cause of Holocaust

Netanyahu was the main cause for recent Olmert holocaust in Gaza. His pre-election message that territorial withdrawals have only brought more violence did resonate with Israelis, not wanting to vacate the illegal settlements, went to the polls just weeks after the fascist war in Palestine-Gaza. Netanyahu has spent time in the U.S. and has two degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and claims US support for Israeli terrorism in Palestine. Whether American education is bad or he is too hawkish by origins, Netanyahu is embodiment of fascist instincts and wants to prove the key in Israel’s relations with its main ally, the USA. His experience in America should have given him the ability to schmooze Americans.

The Palestinians are waiting to see what Netanyahu plans to offer, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. "We would like to see the program of the Israeli government accept the two-state solution and stop settlement activities," he said. "We will judge the government by its program."

 International pressure is likely to prevent Netanyahu from building more in West Bank settlements than Olmert did, the analyst said. And if Olmert could not work out a peace deal with the Palestinians, he added, it will be hard to fault Netanyahu for not succeeding.

Will he or not?

Well, that is the key question about the possibility of a Palestine state during his tenure. Netanyahu has long presented himself as a leader opposed to territorial withdrawals and not seduced by dreams of peace. He has never openly renounced the idea of controlling the "Greater Land of Israel," meaning the territory that is now Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But his behavior as prime minister in the 1990s, and as prime minister-elect since last month, displayed a less ideological bent. "He believes in the Greater Land of Israel, and if you ask him he'll never say he does not. But he'll act in a way that will suggest taking reality into account, and not just ideology.  In 1996, importing an American political arsenal of sound bites and attack campaigning, Netanyahu upset the veteran politician Shimon Peres and became Israel 's youngest prime minister. He was driven from office after a term marked by bad relations with the Palestinians, failed peacemaking with Syria, alienated allies, an inability to rein in an unruly Parliament and corruption allegations that didn't stick.

Despite his hard-line rhetoric, Netanyahu signed several deals with the Palestinians under US pressure during his first term as premier, and some analysts in Israel say he would do so again if pressed by Washington. Netanyahu has embraced peace negotiations since being tapped as the country's leader after the Feb. 10 elections. He also says Israel should not rule Palestinians, although he has remained vague on the details and never said the words "Palestinian state." "The government I am about to form will do all it can to achieve a just, long-lasting peace with our neighbors and the entire Arab world," he said. "Each of our neighbors truly willing to move toward peace will find an outstretched hand." While Netanyahu had enough support in Parliament to form a hard-line government, he worked to bring the centrist Labor Party into the ruling coalition and entrusted its leader, Ehud Barak, with Israel’s security as defense minister. Olmert said: “there is no secure or expected Jewish majority in Greater Israel (an Israeli term for both Israel proper and the occupied West Bank) populated by millions of Palestinians who yearn for their own country.

 Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas urged leaders at the annual Arab summit in Doha to lobby the international community, especially Obama's administration, to pressure Israel into accepting a "fair peace." With Netanyahu, who opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, at the helm and Lieberman as Israel’s top diplomat, the international community has expressed alarm over the future of the already uncertain peace process, relaunched in November 2007 but making little progress since. The European Union warned of "consequences" if the new government does not commit itself to the principle of the two-state solution, saying relations would become "very difficult." And US President Barack Obama admitted that peace efforts under a Netanyahu cabinet were not getting any easier but were just as necessary. But keen not to antagonize key ally Washington where Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue the hobbled peace talks, the new Israeli leader has said he will continue the negotiations with the Palestinians.

During a recent visit, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated Washington's commitment to the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel — something Netanyahu has so far refused to explicitly endorse. But his performance is unlikely to be dramatically different from that of the premier he is replacing, centrist Ehud Olmert. Will take the world by surprise, or even shock, with any new pro-Palestine policy? That could easily be a trillion dollar question for now!

A Caution

Indented to pursue an anti-Palestine agenda, Israel’s 32nd right-government promises to be one of its largest ever, with a new large table having been ordered to accommodate the some 30 ministers and up to seven deputy ministers. A compromise has resulted in accommodation of more ministers than hitherto to please all of his new partners and his own Likud Party.  A government so lacking in ideological cohesion might not last, and probably will not last, the full four years that it should be in power, unless they unitedly decide to honor the international commitment to the Palestine state and peace in the region. Israel's Peace Now anti-settlement watchdog has called the incoming cabinet "one of the most right-wing governments ever known in Israel.” The new foreign minister is set to be firebrand Avigdor Lieberman, a former bouncer and immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Moldova who has been branded a "racist" by critics for his anti-Arab diatribes.

One of the main issues is Netanyahu's opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, a principle to which Israel committed itself under the 2003 international so-called roadmap for peace. Netanyahu, who put the brakes on the Oslo peace process during his first term as premier in 1996-1999, says economic conditions should be improved in the occupied West Bank before negotiations take place on other issues. Netanyahu said Israel wants "total and real peace with a view to reaching reconciliation between the Arab and Jewish peoples, but is now heading a predominantly right-wing cabinet that has sparked international concern over the future of troubled peace talks. Returning to power 10 years after his first stint as prime minister, the 59-year-old Bibi has been approved by parliament obviously to pursue the “Jewish” goals. Whatever his real disposition and intention this time, Netanyahu will have to expend much of his energy to ensure the peace deal to make Mideast a zone of peace.

The Palestinians, both Fatah and Hamas, should not really have a case for rejoice or celebrations as Israel has not fundamentally changed in any way and an old premier known for his repressive terrorism in Palestine has assumed, the illegal nuclear, power in Israel and he cannot make things any better for the Palestinians unless the Obama administration puts its feet firmly down forcing Tel-Aviv to act quickly before its is too late to save itself. Israel cannot hide behind Iran’s nuclear drive. Hamas and Fatah should have a duty to explain to the world, much worried about their plight, their strategy with a divided house where one groups considers more harmful enemy than the Jews who control and kill them systematically, destroy their lands, borders, lives and literally every thing on the strength of support from the western powers that hate Islam. Fascist Israel is extremely provocative. Without a real unity, the Palestinians will lose the battle without any trace. The same fate would engulf other freedom fighting movements around the world too. 

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Yours Sincerely,

DR. ABDUL RUFF Colachal

Columnist & Independent Researcher in World Affairs, The only Indian to have gone through entire India
South Asia.