Israeli Prime-Minister has found himself in dire straits after unveiling his plan to build new settler homes in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as the capital of their state. The move was condemned worldwide, with Sweden becoming the first EU member to recognize Palestine. More than 100 Israeli retired generals and intelligence chiefs called on the premier to restart peace talks with Palestine.
Studio guest Alexander Domrin, Professor of High School of Economics, Sayed Mustafa, Ambassador of Palestine to Moscow, Ben Hartman, political commentator of The Jerusalem Post, and Meir Litvak, professor of Tel-Aviv University, shared their opinions with Radio VR.
Is there a way out of this for Mr. Netanyahu?
Alexander Domrin: We have this really wonderful phrase in Russian – to sit on two chairs. This is exactly what Netanyahu is doing right now and this is a very uncomfortable position. I certainly understand the motives of those 105 retired generals who signed that petitions, because, indeed, the politicians start the wars but the soldiers go to fight and kill, and to die. In this respect my feelings definitely are on the side of the generals, rather than on the side of Netanyahu.
But there is also another detail that we should mention. We shouldn’t overestimate the personal qualities of some politicians, but we shouldn’t underestimate them as well. Netanyahu is a tough cookie. If you remember, back in 1989 Netanyahu was temporarily barred from the State Department by the Secretary of State Baker. In 1996 he spoiled the relations with Clinton. Robert Gates called him ungrateful and that was just several years ago. So, you can expect all kinds of mistakes from this gentleman. And I believe that it was very untimely to announce the plans to build 1000 new settler homes in Palestine right now.
How will this plan affect the already difficult situation?
Sayed Mustafa: We hope that the Israeli Government begins to adopt a new policy. What the Netanyahu Government is doing in east Jerusalem in the last days is very dangerous. And if they continue this policy, this will have large negative results, because the Government of Netanyahu, they are working to transform this conflict from a political one into a religious conflict. This subject is serious and sensitive.
On the other side, we've this week the rise of the terrorist acts. How real is the danger of the new Palestinian uprising?
Sayed Mustafa: Our people in east Jerusalem are suffering too much from the Israeli policy. This is the reflection of all the difficulties they are facing in their normal life. When they see that their land is being stolen and when they see the Jewish groups every day trying to enter their holy mosques by force, this of course make them react like this. So, everything depends on the Israeli policy, they must change it to make the life for our people in east Jerusalem normal.
Sweden became the first EU state to recognize Palestine. What does this mean for Palestine?
Sayed Mustafa: Politically, this is a very important step. We appreciate their decision very much, because we think that the Israeli policy is quite clear – they don’t want to search for any serious political solution, they want to continue their occupation of the Palestinian land, they want to continue their illegal activities of building settlements on our land, they want to isolate the east Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian territories and keep it as the united capital of their state. And even when they talk about their willingness to return to the negotiations, we think it is just to earn more time in order to complete their plans, to maintain their occupation.
Therefore, we said that it is enough. It has been more than 23 years that we are negotiating with Israel this way without the result. It is time to go to the UN Security Council to take a resolution, to set the timetable for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Palestinian land occupied in 1967. And that should also include the date of the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem. The consultation about the proposal is continuing with all the international parties and we hope that the draft resolution will be ready during November. And later we will be ready to continue the negotiation with Israel according to that resolution and that timetable.
How much pressure is Benjamin Netanyahu facing now?
Ben Hartman: I would say a limited pressure. This letter is not an unprecedented sort of thing, there has been many initiatives like this by the ex-generals and ex-security officials in the past years. They are not the people who are part of the current political establishment. The pressure that Netanyahu feels more is within his own party and people on the right-wing of the Israeli politics. In terms of feeling pressure about starting a diplomatic process or a peace accord, or anything like that, he is not is not in the position to really feel the pressure from the Israeli public or from the political or military establishment. People aren’t pushing for that at the moment.
I have a feeling that Netanyahu has found himself in a growing isolation in the world. Don’t you have a feeling that he is like a one man army politically?
Ben Hartman: The relationship with the US is strained and that’s part of why it is such a problem, because they were the only stalwart ally that Israel could count on. In terms of the diplomatic isolation, when you see more and more of these initiatives, like Sweden recognizing Palestine, there is a feeling that there is a snowball effect and you could have more and more of these recognitions and all that, and then it would put Israel in some sort of corner. And maybe the US wouldn’t recognize Palestine outright, but could potentially not play a strong hand in the Security Council like they already do.
Personally, I would think that at the moment, when it comes to the US, for the most part the disagreements are between Netanyahu and his Government and Obama and his administration, it is not something that is structural within the entire Israeli and American political leaderships. The Congress, the Senate – they are quite pro-Israel and there is not that tension that you have between Netanyahu and Obama. But it is still something to be taken quite seriously, even though he’s only got another two years left in the White House.
Was this condemnation all these kinds of moves expected?
Meir Litvak: The condemnation was expected, because there is the overall opposition throughout the world to building the houses across the 1967-border. And I think the Israeli Government knew what to expect when it decided on a settlement. It did it out of the domestic policies with the little thinking about the international ramifications.
This week we've seen a dangerous rise of violence, to what extent Netanyahu would be able to control the situation?
Meir Litvak: I don’t know. Jerusalem is much more volatile than the West Bank. It has to do with the two things: one is the settlements, and the second issue is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. And interestingly, the West Bank is much more quest than Jerusalem nowadays is.
