A Financial Times editorial Sunday says that Israel has been painted into the corner internationally. FT seems to believe that the new international pressure could result in a "viable" Palestinian state. But not a contiguous one. (I’m agnostic on the solution but I never did understand how that part works, Gaza to the West Bank, and don’t show me the Rand Corp’s arc).
Israel, especially under the hardline nationalist government of Benjamin Netanyahu, has begun to overreact almost systematically to the perceptible erosion of international support for its irredentist claims on the West Bank. Barack Obama’s statement in June, saying the US did not recognise the legitimacy of the Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, was a landmark.
The Netanyahu government’s ferocious condemnation of the UN-commissioned Goldstone report, looking into possible war crimes on both sides during last winter’s Gaza war, was another.
More particularly, Israel’s European friends, such as Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, did not rush to condemn the Swedish initiative [EU paper calling for establishment of Palestinian state], or to anathematise Judge Goldstone. Washington was silent on the EU policy paper, seeing it as a helpful nudge towards the two-states solution it seeks.
The increased and brutal frequency of war in this volatile region has shifted international opinion, reminding Israel it is not above the law. Israel can no longer dictate the terms of debate.
That is all to the good – provided it results in a diplomatic push towards where Israel’s long-term security really lies: the creation of a viable and independent Palestinian state before it is too late.
h/t Eva Smagacz.
