From "Why isn't Netanyahu backing two-state solution?" in Ha'aretz:
Netanyahu believes Israel must insist on retaining 50
percent of the West Bank – the open areas in the Jordan Valley and the
Judean Desert that are vital as a security zone. In light of statements
the outgoing government has made to the Palestinians, Netanyahu's
position is a joke meant to kill the negotiations before they even
begin.
And Avigdor Lieberman continues the charm offensive in his campaign for foreign minister in an interview with Newsweek:
Weymouth: You've proposed that the Israeli
Arabs in the Wadi Ara [an area inside the 1967 border] be transferred
to the Palestinian Authority and that Israeli settlers in other areas
be annexed to Israel in a land swap.
Lieberman:
The dividing line for Yisrael Beytenu is who supports terror and who
fights terror. We cannot accept that there are people in Israel that
even during even the war openly supported Hamas.You're talking about Israeli Arabs?
Of course, but not only Arabs. I'm sorry to say that there were also Jews.You propose to say these people are no longer Israeli citizens or that they're supposed to go to the Palestinian territories?
First
of all, [I propose] to outlaw these parties and these political leaders
[who supported Hamas]. Secondly, there must be some kind of national or
military service for all Israelis.We take all our
examples from Europe or the United States. For example, the pledge.
When I suggested the exact procedure like in the United States for the
pledge, everybody here said, "You're a racist, you're a fascist." Why?It's not mandatory in America. No one's going to kick you out of the country if you don't take it.
I
agree with this. We don't have a proposal to kick people out of the
country. But I think the country must demand from the citizens real
responsibility. It's a crazy thing in Israel that a minister doesn't
agree to our anthem. I can't imagine it … The next point is our
relations with the Palestinians. What is [the] reason for so
longstanding a conflict? Many people say it's about occupation,
settlements, settlers, etc. I think that's a misunderstanding. Before
1967, it was the same. And what was before 1948? It was the same. We
have friction between Jews and Arabs.
So it seems he's changed his tune to show he's an equal opportunity demagogue.
Both Netanyahu and Lieberman show that their administration will be guided by a clash of civilizations mentality that offer Palestinians an apartheid state instead of actual sovereignty. Ha'aretz points out that this model is "based on the work of Stanford
University political science professor Stephen Krasner, who was
director of policy planning in the State Department under Condoleezza
Rice. Krasner developed a "restricted sovereignty" model for
problematic state structures."
Will the new administration go for this? We'll see. In the meantime the US media needs to dig into the reality of this new Israeli administration and the fact that the policies they are advocating are not consistent with US policy or values. Newsweek tried to get to the second point:
But people in the United States think you are a racist. What do you say to those people?
I think they don't understand our reality …
Will this answer suffice?
