Is Bibi bluffing?
Prime Minister Netanyahu is acting coy about whether he will propose a 'new initiative' to create a 'Palestinian' reichlet. Even as sources around Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continue to say he is planning to launch a new Israeli diplomatic initiative, Netanyahu has so far given no public indication of what he has in mind, or when – and even if -- he will make such a move.Bibi apparently still doesn't get it. Abu Bluff isn't coming to the negotiating table. And Bibi is 'negotiating' against himself. Whatever he proposes will not be enough (it will be less than what Barak and Olmert offered the 'Palestinians' and even that was not enough for them), and the 'international community' will tell him to go back and offer more.
Instead, in meetings with foreign dignitaries he is giving no details of any plan, and during a press opportunity Sunday with visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera he again called on the Palestinians to enter negotiations, and challenged the international community to deal with Iran with as much determination as it was showing in dealing with Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. He gave no indication, however, that he was on the cusp of a new initiative.
"We are prepared to sit down and negotiate peace," Netanyahu said. "And the Palestinians have found a variety of excuses not to do so."
Government officials said Netanyahu wants to make clear that he is not in favor of unilateral action, and would much rather negotiate a final agreement with the Palestinians. However, if the Palestinians continue to reject calls to enter negotiations, he is laying the groundwork for saying that a continued Palestinian refusal means that Israel will have no choice but to initiate a plan of its own – a plan that will surely fall well short of Palestinian aspirations.
What he should do is to say that he is waiting for the 'Palestinians' to come to the table, and that in the meantime Israel will build whenever and wherever it wants. What he should do is change the paradigm where Israel continues to give and the 'Palestinians' continue to receive (Remember the '90's Bibi? Remember reciprocity?) to one where the 'Palestinians' can come to the table and negotiate like everyone else, or they can have nothing.
But of course, Bibi won't do any of that.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Middle East peace process, Palestinian state, reciprocity, unilateral declaration of statehood
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:33 AM
1 Comments:
Of course not.
It would be politically incorrect for Israel to tell the Palestinians to go take a hike and as long as they refuse to negotiate Israel gets to do whatever it wants in Yesha.
That's why Netanyahu won't do it and why nothing he will offer the Palestinians will be enough to bring back to the table. It will never be enough - unless he's willing to commit national suicide for them.
What could go wrong indeed
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