All colonial settler states are based on the violent dispossession of the native peoples – and as a result, their fundamental and overriding aim has always been to keep those native peoples as weak as possible. Israel’s aim for the Palestinians is no different.
Palestinian statehood is clearly an obstacle to this goal; a Palestinian state would strengthen the Palestinians. Genuine sovereignty would end Israel’s current presumed right to steal their land, control their borders, place them under siege, and bomb them at will. That is why Netanyahu’s Likud party platform “flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river.”; that is why Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated for even suggesting some limited self-governance for the Palestinians; and that is why every proposal for Palestinian statehood, however limited and conditional, has been wilfully sabotaged by successive Israeli governments of all hues.
Within three years of the 1993 Oslo declaration, for example, which promised self-governance for Palestinian areas, foreign minister Ariel Sharon was urging “everyone” to “grab as many hilltops as they can” in order to minimise the size and viability of the area to be administered by Palestinian Authority.
The Israel Lobby controls the US Congress by gaming the election campaign funding system. eg. AIPAC has been rated as the most feared lobby in DC according to a poll of the staffs of members of Congress.
For a half-century, Israel has been faced with a "pick any two" choice:
1) hold the West Bank forever
2) be a Jewish state
3) be a democracy
Has Netanyahu chosen which of these three his country will give up, or is he passing a far more difficult problem on to future generations?
What this tragedy has needed for 70 years, and never got, was two brilliant leaders from opposing sides. Each with the respect and trust of their people and each determined to do the right thing to ensure a future defined by peace. And then I wake up...
2
Although I love Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, there is nothing wrong with the majority of Israelis choosing a binational state as their future. Of course, Israel could also choose a non-democratic future, which would put them on equal footing with the rest of the Middle East. The only problem is that the rest of the world will not support them -- including most of the Jews in the rest of the world -- and a state without natural resources does require trade to survive. This would be a move that should inspire nonviolent civil resistance but not terrorism. Terrorism may have been effective at driving the French from Algeria but the French returned to France. The Jews are not going back to Poland or Syria. Terrorism and resistance are not synonymous. The sooner everyone who wants peace and equality joins forces to creatively cause problems for everyone who wants war and apartheid, the better off everyone in the region will be long term.
1
@SDK
Palestinians leaders have become very wealthy. Arafat had a net worth of $1 billion, Abbas $100 million, Abu Marzouk $2-3 billion, Khaled Mashaal, $2.6 billion. It literally pays not to make peace.
1
Jewish Israelis proudly proclaim they are “The Only Democracy in the Middle East”, yet:
Jewish Israelis determine where Palestinian Israelis can legally live.
Jewish Israelis prohibit Palestinian Israelis from publicly protesting the loss of their land to Jewish immigrants.
Jewish Israelis recently revised Israel’s Basic Laws to read that “The Jewish State of Israel” has a unique right to promote “Jewish national self-determination”, made Hebrew the official Israeli State language” and downgraded Arabic as an official State language, even though 20% of Israel’s population speak Arabic.
Jewish Israelis have kept 1/2 of the of the Palestinian population under military Occupation for 70 of 71 years of Israel’s existence.
Jewish Israelis depend upon annual USA military aid to maintain its 52 year long military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and humanitarian seize of Gaza.
Jewish Israelis employ the doctrine of disproportionate military response against Palestinian civilians, using U.S. weaponry.
Jewish Israelis have never acknowledged Palestinians as equal negotiating partners.
Jewish Israelis have used political lobbies to successfully influence Congress for over 40 years to give Israel more free aid than what Congress has given the rest of the entire world, combined, during the same period of time.
Do you think these might be reasons many Americans have grown frustrated with unconditionally supporting Jewish Israeli “Democracy”?
8
If Bibi wins and steals even more Palestinian land you can expect the same kind of turmoil that the invasion of Iraq created.
The "martyrs" will line up 10 deep,nd it will be the beginning of another 70 years of war over Palestine.
Sad day indeed,and all because some Jews believe they are the chosen people with a right to Israel even after 2000 year absence,and because American evangelicals think this is part of the return of Jesus.
5
" fewer than half of Israelis still supporting a two-state solution "
Zionism is the problem. The rational world sees and understands who are the foreigners , colonists , land stealers , ethnic cleansers & brutal occupiers vs who are the indigenous people of Palestine who have been forced from their land or live gasping for life & freedom under the Zionist boot. (425 villages+12 urban centers were ethnically cleansed in 1948 alone, forcing 750K Pal`s from THEIR land to become refugees.) After the 1967 war Israel expelled ~260K Palestinians from the West Bank + 80K Syrians from the Golan.
The indigenous people of Palestine had nothing to do with the Holocaust yet via a rigged UN resolution #181 they have been made to pay for it. UN res. #181 passed by the bare minimum of votes needed (33). Historians record that many of these votes were obtained by coercion. Eg. Haiti`s vote (yes Haiti had a vote) was purchased by a loan. Liberia`s vote was obtained by threatening an embargo on it`s only export product (natural rubber). US Pres. Truman wrote in his memoirs that never before or after did the US & all of the UN nations experience so much pressure to vote for the partitioning of Palestine resolution.
If UN Res 181 came up for re-ratification today it would fail miserably and rightly so based on all the atrocities and transgressions that the Zionist colonists have perpetrated on the indigenous people of Palestine.
4
I’m a supporter of one state with equal rights for all in Israel/Palestine, but calling Jewish Israelis “foreigners” in Palestine after 70 years there is out of line in my opinion.
1
@Christian Haesemeyer
If you support one state, does that mean that you favor annexation?
1
Ceding the Gaza Strip to Palestinians hopefully taught a powerful and lasting lesson to the State of Israel. Land for peace has always been a quixotic quest. Instead of peace, that world-lauded maneuver brought down a rainfall of Palestinian rockets, and ultimately the election of terrorist organization Hamas to represent the heart and soul of the Palestinian people. The lunacy of a "two-state" solution that cedes an even larger swath of land to the same Palestinians in an ephemeral pursuit of peace, makes even the fabled Don Quixote of La Mancha and his windmill tilting seem sane. It's best to do away with the falsehood of a two-state "solution" and deal in the unquestionable reality that Israel must never risk a Gaza Strip redux in the much larger West Bank. Fool me once shame on you...
4
The annexation ploy is truly an example of a distinction without a difference. It is simply a matter of formalizing what has been obvious for quite some time. I am not sure that Israel ever was serious about obeying international law--to say nothing of its own--& giving up its West Bank settlements to create a Palestinian state. It certainly has no intention of doing so now.
3
@Bill
Jews accepted the 1937 Peel Partition Plan, the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the Clinton Parameters & Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a 2-state peace plan. All of these were 2-state solutions.
6
When the inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza are able to demonstrate for at least a decade that they are able to live peacefully with Israel, then it would be time to establish a demilitarized Palestinian state.
When have the Palestinians shown that they can live in peace? They have not since the end of Turkish rule after World War I.
Declaring sovereignty over the West Bank might make the Palestinians understand the cost of violence. However, the West Bank should not be incorporated into Israel.
I take notice of hostility toward Israel from a many commentators here. It indicates an ignorance of the history, a bias against the existence of any secure Jewish state, a hatred of President Trump, and a preference for that which is non-western. The leftist university academics have done their work well.
6
Lets get things over with and end the suffering of people at West bank. Annex it all, give left over crumbs (if any) to Gaza (the defacto Palestinian state) and end the suffering of people living in West bank.
No one wants to force "both" Israel and Palestinians to commit to a 2 state solution and lets face it both sides have to be forced. And we have on one hand Israel, the 5th/6th strongest military in the world on one side, and on the other side a few million basically unarmed people living on hand outs from: Israel (low skilled labor), Iran, and Rich arab nations. This is going no where except more and more suffering for people living in West bank.
Compare that to Israeli Arabs, while they are not the happiest of citizens and complain of prejudice, none them want to lose their Israel citizenship and rather fix things from inside the system.
Unless you have the main supporter of Israel (USA) pulling the plug (which is never), annexation is the best solution for the people on the ground.
The idea of a ' Democratic Jewish State" is an oxymoron. Theocracy is antithetical to democracy. Consequently, as a taxpayer tired of paying for something I don't believe in, I support Israeli 'annexation' if accompanied by 'one man, one vote.' Is that silence I hear?
4
While Israel may possibly count on US support in the future, they would be foolish indeed to think that the majority of Americans support their current president. We do not. Don the Con did not get a majority of the vote in 2016 and, since then, his support has eroded in every categories of voters. Israel would do well to think long-term, not two or (hopefully not) four years into the future.
1
Maybe trump and netanyahu can share a room at guantanamo bay. They both are a terror to international peace attempts, fragile as such attempts are. One can only hope that progressives and moderates cast majority votes both in the US and Israel. Right wing action, including anti-semitism, create fear and fan hatred in both countries. As a lifelong supporter of Israel, settlements and talk of annexation are profoundly disturbing. Israel is surrounded by enemy countries. Netanyahu only exacerbates this dangerous condition. I want to believe that the election in israel tomorrow and the 2020 election in the US will add a dose of sanity.
2
There is a major problem with many commentators reasoning here. A lot of people say that with a leader like Netanyahu Israel will never make peace with Palestinians. Apparently, they think that Netanyahu and other like-minded politicians are the main obstacle to peace and for this reason they deserve to be hated. The reality, in my view, is very different. It is that Netanyahu and most other Israeli politicians simply realize that peace with Palestinians is not possible and that maintaining the existing status quo, as fragile and volatile it is, is the best course for their country. Netanyahu and his government are elected in order to provide security for their citizens, not in order to find favors with the so-called civilized world, America, Europe, Russia, Iran or whoever else. Netanyahu's position actually reflects the widespread belief in Israel that if Palestinians got their own state today, they would not be able to resist the radicalism of groups like Hamas or Islamic Jihad and the constant warring would continue, although on a larger scale. In these circumstances, they believe it makes no sense to try negotiating a peace agreement now. Israel has never had a long-term strategy because long-term policies are a luxury of countries with a lot of land, people (population) and resources and it seems that Netanyahu just continues in this very sensible path.
Who America supports and what is in the best national interest of America is, of course, a totally different matter.
6
In the last election his closing message was "The Arabs are Coming". Now his closing message is to put a dagger in the heart of a two state solution. He is morphing into Meyer Kahane. If the Israeli people elect him again, they get what they deserve.
And the American media should stop all this nonsense of calling Israel a democracy when they are looking more and more like South Africa of the 50s and 60s.
6
BeBe is a war monger and there goes the theory of a 2 state solution.So terrible for the Palestinians.I cannot name one good thing trump has done and I hope the GOP pays dearly for it.
3
It seems like nytimes keeps giving Netanyahu more and more coverage. His image is always shown but not much of the other candidate.
Annexation of the West Bank will be a disaster for Israel. It will become an apartheid state that will eventually have to extend citizenship to the Palestinians. That will be the end of Israel as a Jewish homeland.
2
So it isn't about greater Israel? So it isn't about a land grab? Calling Israel a rogue, aggressive state sounds tamed . Israel is behaving like Milosevic Serbia. It is time for this country to wake up! To rid itself of this entangling alliance! All those who scream antisemitism to defend the state of Israel and its' actions, you sound very hollow as your champion has shown its' true colors. It is now time for the Palestinians to demand Israeli citizenship, equal rights, and equal participation . What other choice so they have? And Israel will have no other choice but to grant them those rights, which will seal its' fate. Netanyahu will go down as the man who destroyed Israel. The US as the friend who did nothing while its' friend committed suicide.
2
Just imagine how the dead holocaust victims would feel at Israel’s stance of last 70 years?
It proves the millennia old dictum inherent in mankind... when the victimized, the maligned, the tortured are given power, the right to use their clout, they can and may outdo their aggressors.
So painful to accept, but you can’t look the truth in face and not recognize it for what it is!
4
@Ash.
Self-defense is not aggression.
Israel has been under attack since day one & has just been trying to defend itself.
3
If the West Bank and Gaza are officially annexed, what happens to the Palestinians? Israel remains a democracy only as long as it can ensure that Arab citizens remain a small minority, so "one man, one vote" is clearly out. The irony is that most Palestinians would be happy to be citizens and would have no motivation to change the ostensibly secular government if they were granted equal rights. Israel would of course prefer the Palestinians simply disappear, the position Andrew Jackson favored for Native Americans east of the Mississippi. The fact that such a final solution entails cultural genocide is an irony lost on Mr. Netanyahu.
3
Only a massive vote by Arab voters will undo this. But the Israeli Arabs and Palestinian voters are their own worst enemies by their historically low voter turnouts. This seems on target to be true again. With a lrager Arab turnout, the smaller parties would need more votes to make it into the Knesset. The Palestinian argument that their votes do not matter, that all Jewish candidates are the same, and that they want to demonstrate their contempt for Zionism has hurt them before and it will again. Their leadership of course cares not a whit for democracy, as do most Arab states in the region. This is a tragedy that is only partly the fault of Netanyahu and the Jewish voters. The lion's share of the blame is on people who will not exercise their right to vote. They should not be surprised then when the right wing removes it. Now or never. Arab citizens of Israel VOTE!
2
This is a land grab that is being proposed out of transparently self centered ambition and that does nothing to enhance Israeli society, culture, security and its standing in the world.
It is my fervent hope that Israeli voters show the wisdom that Netanyahu is sorely lacking and send him packing.
1
We see this throughout history over and over. The oppressed become the oppressor. People achieve freedom and then turn on others to deprive them of freedom. Something in human beings that seems to be constant.
3
@Joe
Self-defense is not oppression.
How is life for Israel’s Arab minority? Khaled Abu Toameh, the Arab journalist who reports for the Jerusalem Post, U.S. News & World Report and NBC News, talking about life for Arab Israelis: "Israel is a wonderful place to live ... a free and open country.”
Arab women in Israel live longer than Arab women in any Arab country.
Arab babies in Israel have lower infant mortality than Arab babies in any Arab country.
Hadassah University Medical Center in Israel established a registry for Arab donors of bone marrow and stem cells to facilitate life-saving transplants. The registry at Hadassah Hospital is the only one in the world for Arabs and will no doubt save the lives not only of Arab Israelis but also of some citizens of Arab countries, not a single one of which has a registry of its own.
4
@m1945
The foreigners (Israelis) have, on average ,killed 1 Palestinian child every 3 days in the 15 years ending in 2014. There were more than 7000 Palestinian children injured by the Israeli thugs in this same period. You cannot "shame" a country that has killed 1400 children (17 and under) in the past 14 years in the name of "combatting terrorism." About a third of them were 12 and under.
The rational world sees and understands who are the foreigners , colonists , land stealers , ethnic cleansers & brutal occupiers vs who are the indigenous people of Palestine who have been forced from their land or live gasping for life under the Zionist boot. (425 villages+12 urban centers were ethnically cleansed in 1948 alone, forcing 750,000 Pal`s from THEIR land to become refugees.)
How come the UN High Commissioner on Refugees has not done its job and resettled the 10,000 refugees remaining alive from 1948? They resettled 20 million Germans and 15 million people on the Indian subcontinent made refugees in 1948, why have they not resettled these Arabs?
Time to get cracking and resettle them in Jordan, or Egypt, or Tunisia.
3
In reading many of the comments here (and elsewhere) I find the following: Most people don’t know enough history of the Jewish people, nor that of the founding of modern Israel, nor of the Zionist movement, and yet they voice their anti-Israel sentiments. A significant number of people refer to a strong influence of Jews, even back in the 1930s and ‘40s which is actually quite absurd, but smacks of conspiracy theories. Let’s go back to Jewish history prior to the founding of Israel, decades before the Holocaust, when Zionism arose. The early immigrants to what was Palestine then under Ottoman control were refugees from Russia, Poland, and other places, where pogroms were inflicted on Jews, where they had no rights. Refugees. Today, the same people who are criticizing Israel and its very founding would have compassion for refugees from just about every other place on earth. Why don’t we examine the lack of welcome that the Jewish refugees could have had in the Ottoman Empire, an empire that once did accept Jewish refugees (following the expulsion from Spain), albeit with special taxes paid, as paid by all non-Muslims. Perhaps we can question: why weren’t all the Arabs in their vast lands welcoming of people who needed a refuge, say, like the Canadians are welcoming of the Syrian refugees? Study what drove Theodore Herzl, a totally assimmilated Jew, to be moved by the Dreyfus trial and to come to the realization that their was no refuge for Jews other than their own state.
3
I believe that the PM has said that Israel will engage in negotiations with a Palestinian government to come to an agreed upon set of defensible borders.
If those who reside in the old state of Jordan (now referred to as the West Bank) had a government that effectively represented them, there would have a country known as Palestine years ago. Unfortunately, those in power are more concerned with their riches than in ending this 70 year fiasco.
2
@jrgfla By "those in power" I assume you mean those who are really in power, the Israeli government and West Bank settlers.
2
@Dan Woodard MD
If the Palestinians would lay down their weapons, there would be peace.
If the Israelis would lay down their weapons, there would be no more Israelis.
It's the Palestinians who have the power to determine war or peace.
3
Netanyahu acts populist and nationalist to hide corruption.
1
A victory by Prime Minister Netanyahu is in the best interests of both the U.S. and Israel, and it's actually also the best outcome for the Arab world too. That's because a strong Israel is a check on the ambitions of vocally anti-semitic regimes like that of Ayattolah Khamenei in Iran, which is not only good for Israel and the U.S., it's also good for the rest of the Arab world which has little interest in seeing Iran's self-interested quest for regional dominance succeed.
6
For an article about Netanyahu's claim to effectively annex the West Bank, there's a surprising (complete) dearth of representation from those who would be most affected. Where are the quotes from Palestinians and Israeli settlers living in the West Bank? Where is comment from PA leadership?
5
I don't understand why the internal election ballots of another country are considered to be so crucial to this American newspaper that they merit five or six stories that have appeared "above the fold" (as we used to say about the NYT) this week. I do understand that the subject gives the Times' writers and hundreds of online commenters an opportunity to express moral rectitude and hand-wringing. But the coverage seems disproportionate.
If the issue is crucial to U.S. national interests, security, or global geopolitical position, why are Chinese, Venezuelan or Iraqi elections not given the same level of attention and detail? If the primary concern is the ethical treatment of Palestinians at the hands of an oppressive government, then where are similar treatments of ongoing African, Middle Eastern, or South American humanitarian crises or cruel regimes?
According to the U.N., there are more than 24 million people in Yemen afflicted by natural disasters, economic collapse, and international conflict. Yet there has only been one story in the NYT about that subject in the past week - a brief blurb that Saudi Arabia is sending them aid during Ramadan.
If the NYT is truly the paper of record, it needs to broaden its coverage beyond Trump, Israel, Brexit, and occasional attention to other topics. Local metro/NY State stories are withering on the vine, for example.
9
Mike S., you are right.
Indonesia (population 250 million) and India (population 1.3 billion) are having elections this month. Yet the wall to wall coverage we get in the NY Times is of Israel (population 8 million).
New York is a global city, not an Israeli suburb. I would appreciate more global coverage from the Times.
1
The 2009 Bar-Ilan speech demonstrates the power a US administration has to shape Israeli policy. With the irresponsible policies of "The Great Divider" Trump, Bibi has no incentive to stay in any now-imaginary center of Israeli politics.
US policy needs a "tough love" approach toward Israel. It needs to tell whoever is PM that US unconditional support for Israeli policy extends only as far as Israeli policy reflects American values. And the US cannot deny the value of peace thru the 2-state solution. What other option holds hope? If Israel abandons or implicitly abandons this goal, then we have to talk to the Palestinians more, at a minimum.
A Trump policy is implicitly not 2-state in orientation--to the degree he has a policy. A Kushner peace proposal is likely to affirm another orientation--if it ever comes out. Survival of Trumpism is thus a necessity for US public servants, if not the American-Jewish lobby, not mentioned here, but now hardly resistant to the right-wing nationalism of Bibi & Co.
1
@Tom Unfortunately the two-state solution is dead, as the settlers will not give up thier territory and there is no longer enough of the West Bank for a valuable state. Gaza will not be viable unless Israel withdraws the line of gunboats that will destroy any vessel coming or going.
2
The situation is so helpless that the idea of a negotiated peace settlement is just pure fiction. The Palestinian Arabs new this from the very beginning but sadly it took the world 70+ years to begin to see it. But Israel will ultimately pay the price and like a cowboy in the wilderness, will forever be doomed to stay vigilante and go to sleep with its eyes open and a gun loaded by its side.
2
If Bibi is set on ruling over the Judaea & Samaria and denying Palestinians living there Israeli citizenship and equal rights__as have the Arabs living in Israel nominally have__ then is Trump going to open the U.S. to Palestinian immigrants that emigrate from the West Bank? Seems only right, right?
3
Annexing is the first step in converting Israel from an Israeli state to a democratic state.
1
The title of this article claims "the Future of the West Bank Is Now on the Ballot"
This is absolutely not the case. The International community will have the final say, even if that means brushing aside Trump and US evangelicals.
Any Israeli who thinks that the future of the West Bank is an Israeli decision is wrong.
Over the tenure of Netanyahu, Likud supporters have become as crazed as the Trump cult.
Israeli voters should read Charles Mackay 'Memoirs Of Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds' before voting. What is happening in Israel (and the US and the UK ...) can only be understood as a Madness Of Crowds.
2
if Bibi wins with this landgrab tactic, perhaps his pal Donald Trump will try the same thing should he run in 2020, threatening to invade and conquer Mexico if they don't submit to his will. I'm reasonably sure plenty of the Republicans in his administration would claim the effort will pay for itself if we swipe Mexico's oil and sell Pemex to US oil companies. this has worked in Republican DC before. meanwhile, what Israeli constituency wants to start a war of conquest in the West Bank? is it really about not only appealing to the religious beyond the fringe elements, but about water rights and using water as a weapon?
1
Wouldn't the adults among the now completely disenfranchised 2.6 million Palestinians in this area get to vote in the next Israeli election? That's not just a little something, that's huge.
4
This is a ridiculously moot argument. Israel and the Palestinian territories should be one country, there should be no West Bank or Gaza. It should be all one country with equal rights for all citizens.
7
This will embolden more Ilhan Omars.
Good.
10
Free Palestine.
9
@Luke Ramundo
It’s already “free”....but now called ‘Jordan’.
1
The Arabs now identifying as Palestinian have made it perfectly clear that they cannot be trusted with independent statehood. Is there any doubt that Arabs...themselves the descendants of imperialist invaders, colonists, and 20th century illegal economic migrants to the British Mandate....are still trying to win the war they started 70+ years ago, and LOST?
And let’s not pretend that Jordan...the defacto Arab Palestinian state....doesn’t occupy 80% of the territory formerly referred to as ‘Palestine’...completely judenfrei. In other words, the two state solution already exists.
Land for no peace? Been there, done that, got over 20,000 Hamas rockets and a terrorist base camp on Israel’s southern border. The last thing Israel needs is yet another terrorist base camp to the east, aka an independent state capable of importing weapons of mass destruction.
No. Like many other populations around the world, ‘limited autonomy’ is what the Arab Palestinians shall have and... after a century of Arab terror wars perpetrated against the descendants of indigenous Jews...it’s more than they deserve.
10
Given that Israel hadn't existed as an independent entity since the days of Alexander the Great, how was that not an act of imperialist invaders and colonists? Just look at the influx of European and American colonists whose families hadn't owned the land for many centuries, if ever. The Native Americans have a much better argument to demand the land taken from them.
The creation of the state was an act of western colonialism in its waning days disguised as a humanitarian effort. It gave the West a tenacious foothold in the the region as they were being expelled elsewhere.
4
So the solution to all the issues you describe is to now steal ALL the Palestinians’ land? Crazy logic.
2
A two-state solution is already impossible based upon the de facto annexation that has already occurred.
May as well come out and say what everyone already knows. Let Israel annex the whole West Bank legally, not just factually. Then we can start to have a serious discussion about rights for the people living there. Once apartheid becomes the de jure stance of the Israeli state, not just the de facto stance, it will only become harder to sustain, not easier.
4
@A
A 2-state solution is certainly possible if the Palestinians ever decide to live in peace. Draw a border. Settlements on the Palestinian side of the border become part of Palestine. Settlers become Palestinian citizens. Because settlers are generally wealthier than Palestinians, their presence will help make a Palestinian state economically viable.
3
@m1945 Israeli settlers have already taken territory in violation of international law. They will remain citizens of Israel, with soldiers to protect them, under any "two state solution".
1
A two state solution is not possible as Israel has negotiated in bad faith. The very fact the the settlers exist in Palestinian tells you that Israel never supported a two state solution.
You can bet that Trump’s recent moves with Iran this week and the Golan Heights announcement last week have been used by Netanyahu as a political message. “He has connections to Trump who will do anything Netanyahu wants”. These moves were coordinated to get him re-elected.
5
The palestinians need to cut the violence and then immediately apply for New Silk Road Status, I'm sure the israelis will think twice about sinking chinese ships.
Obviously this stealing of the West Bank will have a global detrimental effect on anything Jewish - Israel is shooting itself in the foot big time.
6
@rudolf That depends on whether the policy of nations is dictated by morality or pragmatism and short term self-interest. If the US supports annexation Israel will have few concerns.
And people are called 'anti-semitic' because they dare attack Israel and its policies?
5
As was said of Red Sox, Manny Ramirez — “It’s just Manny being Manny” — now with ‘no respect’ to either faux-Emperor Trumpius, nor Emperor Netanyahu (in their respective Vichy facaded Empires) — “It’s just Emperors being Emperors”.
4
I'm confused. Bibi wants to embrace millions of Palestinians as Israeli citizens. OK, that's a radically new vision of a pluralistic Israel that I personally have no problem with, but that's the last thing I would have expected of him. Has he thought through all the implications for Israeli politics and fiscal responsibilities?
3
@ss So far as I can tell he never said the Palestinians would be offered citizenship, only that he would take their land. Sort of like the US and the Native Americans.
2
@God,
Help about some assistance?
Israel and the Palestinians almost came to agreement in 2000
at Camp David, that is, until Arafat scuttled it and abetted the
second intifada. This gave the upcoming Israeli election to Sharon in place of Barak, who'd sought an accommodation that
had almost been reached by both sides at Taba. But this is all history, something about which too many here are notoriously unaware. Nor do most recall that after, of all people, Sharon completely evacuated Gaza, it was George Bush, who despite the literal pleas of Israel and the PA, enabled an election that placed Hamas, a terrorist organization, into control of Gaza, where it's far more willing to sacrifice the lives and health of its suffering inhabitants than to do anything to resolve the conflict with either Israel or the PA. Meanwhile the PA continues to play the propaganda card at the UN while most Israelis, who in actuality don't give a hoot about the territories, give into a far more vocal right. So it's almost Yeatsian truism for those on both sides who really do care to again to again take note that this is what happens when the center fails to hold.
5
@Jack Eisenberg I agree that Arafat was wrong in insisting on the right of Palestinians to return to the areas they had been expelled from during the formation of Israel. But if he had agreed, that would not have prevented Israeli "settlers" from turning the West Bank into Israeli territory.
Excellent question.
I’m a Palestinian citizen from the West Bank. This article, as well as all legislation, have zero indication of what happens to us, Palestinians with PA ID/citizenship. Either they will have to give us Israeli citizenship, or they will kick us out. Either way tomorrow is a interesting day. Our future is being voted upon and we have no say.
“Democracy”
8
@Laith Shehadeh
Does Lebanon give the Palestinians living there citizenship? Jordan? Egypt? It seems that about the only way for Palestinians to be citizens of an actual country is to naturalize USA, Australia, Canada, etc. There is not future in being Palestinian. Consider giving it up.
2
@Laith Shehadeh
Israel offered to end the occupation in return for a peace treaty. The occupation is still here because Palestinians refuse to sign a peace treaty. Palestinians have the power to sign or not to sign. You do have a say in your future.
4
@m1945: Interesting logic: “you are being occupied and oppressed because you don’t agree the peace on our terms.” Sadly, this is the usual logic conquerors have employed throughout history.
4
I have yet to hear any mention of 2 basic issues from the contenders for leadership of Israel:
1) International law
2) Human rights
Since these subjects are meticulously avoided, I will have to assume that all parties reject both of these concepts for world order.
8
@Greg
Your assumption doesn't follow.
2
@m1945
Never-the-less I will keep my assumption until I hear something from an Israeli leader.
3
A case of him before country. He'll sell the country to save his own job. Just like Trump. Peas in a pod.
4
Should Netanyahu win it would;ld be lamentable as well as the end of democracy in Israel.
3
Netanyahu and Trump are using each other to keep their bases revved up. Before he embraced his daughter's Judaism, Trump was known for his anti-Semitic tropes (see NYT article 2-12-19).
There's little doubt that eventually part of the West Bank will be annexed, but doing it in this manner is likely to lead to long term trouble for Israel. Too bad Palestinians never agreed to a two-state deal when it was offered.
Does Bibi's decision to annex the West bank come with any recommendation of what to do with 2.6 million Palestinians that will become residents of Israel? They can't be allowed any type of citizenship or rights; so how will they be dealt with? Valid questions before electing a leader.
1
@Lawrence
Netanyahu plan is to annex the Jewish settlements only.
I'm only explaining his plan ,not that i agree with it.
2
How does Bibi annex the many scattered non-contiguous Jewish settlements presently in the Palestinian West Bank into Israel without enforcing strict military control to keep access? Why is he allowed to redraw international boundaries in order to keep his job as PM? The U.S. must start to control the mad man they've allowed free reign.
How is this "from the river to the sea" for Israel different from Marc Lamont Hill's statement about Palestine being free? he was talking about equality for all and got fired from his job at CNN while Netanyahu wants a continuation of injustice and inequality and is heralded by our president.
5
@penney albany
What injustice and inequality? Please be specific.
1
@m1945
What injustice? Israel has violated the Fourth Geneva Convention hundreds of times over several decades.
What inequality? Israel has passed a law which makes non-Jews in Israel second class citizens. In addition Palestinian rights in the West Bank have been severely compromised.
3
@Greg
Evidence that Israel violated the Fourth Geneva Convention?
Arabs in Israel have more freedom than Jews in Israel. Arabs in Israel have the freedom to decide whether or not to join the military. Jews in Israel have to join the military whether they want to or not.
There's a conflict of rights. If someone is a danger to society, he is locked up. His right to move freely is curtailed. The rest of society has the right to life. The right to life is more important than the right to move freely.
The Palestinian Authority is committing genocide. It pays people to murder Jews. The more Jews they kill, the more money they get. More money than doctors or judges. That's genocide. The Jews right to life is more important that the Palestinian's right to move freely.
1
There are the smaller religious parties, Shas and Yahadut Torah, that will likely be against annexation, but Bibi needs them in his coalition. OR, he will take in Blue and White, who will not accede to any annexation. At most he will annex the largest settlement towns, which total close to 200,000 residents, and nobody is giving those places "back".
As to the pretense of negotiations for two states, the last official talks were in 2001. Palestinian "leaders" are since decided all negotiations, talks of reaching a compromised agreement, normalcy between Jews and Palestinians, is off the table. Likely permanently.
The PA has enjoyed the success of the BDS movement across Europe and on American campuses, which calls for ONE Palestinian state, mostly iffy about the fate of the millions of Jews living in the Holy Land. Abbas has been hosted and toasted in multiple capitals across the western world. The third world bloc of nations, largely Muslim majority, are at his beck and call. Why should he, or another such leader, resign themselves to divvying up the land (including pre-67 Israel) when they truly believe they will become masters of it, sooner than later, without any talks/compromise/the newest Trump plan. So what if the Oslo Accords call for negotiations between those two parties? The follies at the U.N. ever more convince them their wishes will be handed to them on a silver (if bloody) plate. Just what some of these commenters desire, too.
4
To the many Americans who feel that the new Netanyahu plan is grossly unfair.
To help manage your anger over Netanyahu and Israel, you might make a visit to an American indian reservation to see how they are doing.
To help "pay them off' we allowed them some gambling casinos as if that was satisfactory for our taking all of their land.
Netanyahu is a student of American history.
Actually, the history of mankind is not very kind
That said, the past wrongs don't make a right and i hope to see Netanyahu(And Trump) toppled from government.
Both countries need better leaders.
Tomorrow's election in Israel will be enlightening as will be our own election scheduled for November 3rd 2020.
In addition, the history of mankind is actually not very kind.
4
@M.W. Endres
What the US did to the Native people is of course outrageous. Many are living under terrible conditions. There is a difference however. Native Americans can vote and can live any where the choose unlike the Palestinians.
5
@penney albany
The Native Americans live in the US.
The Palestinians don't live in Israel.
2
I have been an avid supporter for Israel since its creation. I have visited twice, defended it in conversation and writing. I see it as a refuge for Jews who have been persecuted mercilessly for 2000 years mainly by “ Christian” Europe. Expulsions from Spain , Portugal, England in the 1200s, later France, ghettos, pogroms, culminating in the Holocaust. Now anti Semitism is on the rise in Europe.
Iran poses an existential threat. All this has brutalized Israel society oppressing the Palestinians such that there is no hope for peace. Paradoxically an economically thriving democratic Palestine is very feasible with Israeli concurrence and UN help. Such a Palestinian entity would be in stark contrast to the adjacent Sunni states. That threatens the totalitarian rule of those Sunni states leading to Al Qaeda, ISIS, and others. And these very states are those with which Israel is allied with. Think Israel, US, Saudi Arabia and the devastation in Yemen.
In the Bible during first Temple times Israel and Judea were two separate entities. Israel, the ten northern tribes,took defensive measures and allied with Assyria. That didn’t work out well. The ten tribes of Israel disappeared.
If Israel elects Netanyahu whom I regard as a corrupt autocrat, an enemy of peace, history will repeat itself. And so it goes. As Ecclesiastes states, “ There is nothing new under the sun”.
Once again the Holy Land will have been desecrated and the Jews will be” spit out” as in Roman times.
4
@Morris Gould
Self-defense is not oppression.
We Americans have to go through checkpoints at the airport. Does that mean that the USA is oppressing us?
Self-defense is brutal. Self-defense involves killing & wounding, fences, walls, checkpoints. Palestinians suffer, but it's not oppression because the goal is saving lives, not causing suffering.
3
Please read Ben Ehrenreich’s book on “The Way to the Spring”.
Re ...extending sovereignty over the West Bank..
When Putin did so over the Crimea the NY Times called it
Annexation
5
@Upstate Lisa
The Crimea has not been attacking Russia for 70 years.
2
When it comes to Israel and its leaders, the hypocrisy and double standards of Western media is truly disgraceful. The media is treating this blatant, outrageous, demagoguery - if not racism and land-grabbing - by Israel as par for the course. Just compare the way Recep Erdoğan is being treated in another article on this very site with the kid-glove handling of Benjamin Netanyahu. Indeed it is beyond contemptible.
9
Netanyahu continues to embroil Israel in middle eastern politics. At what point does the US say enough and minimize US involvement with Israel? Netanyahu does not think of the people of Israel. He is solely concerned with maintaining power through fear and retribution.
7
I sincerely hope that my Jewish brethren are satisfied with themselves.
Please take care to enjoy all that once was sacred, and is now despoiled.
I stand in solidarity with the oppressed. Until the end of time.
5
30 years of pretending the Palestinians will accept a two state solution seems about right. Might as well move on and get the job done Palestinians have no interest in peace and no Arab state is in a position to do anything about it, nor have they for 30 years.
7
@mkm And you're willing to see Egypt and/or Jordan end their peace agreements with Israel over such a move?
1
It is time to force a two state solution on the parties, Isreal does not get the west bank, and only half of Jerusalem.
7
@herbie212
In 1947, the scholars at Al-Azhar University (The highest authority in Sunni Islam.) declared holy war to return Palestine to Islamic rule. Therefore, as long as most Palestinians are devout Muslims (85% of Palestinian Muslims want sharia law.) and as long as the Jewish State controls even one square inch of land, peace is impossible.
2
To the NY Times: I'm disappointed in your coverage of the Israeli election. While it's true that Mr. Netanyahu, as the incumbent, and his policies, are a big part of the story, we are seeing almost no coverage of the opposition candidates for prime minister. Who are they? What policies do they favor? How are Israelis reacting? What do polls say?
14
@Ken L The NYT likes to demonize Israel, not report on the full range of issues. Those three Ds (demonize, deligitimize, and double standards) keep getting in the way.
4
Acquiring land through conquest has been illegal since 1928, which is partly why Israel’s seizure, illegal occupation and incipient annexation of the various land conquered in1967, in a war that Israel started, has been condemned so widely by almost every nation in the world except the US. The book, The Internationalists, is an excellent history of how and why war for conquest was outlawed and the role it played in the Nuremberg Trials and other Int’l forums.
6
Israel did not start the 1967 war. Arab troops were massed on Israel’s border and were about to strike so Israel preemptively took out their air force. Get your facts straight.
3
@LAM Exactly -- Israel attacked first. That's what "start" means. Troop movements happen regularly as tensions build between nations, but it always takes one side to actually pull the trigger to "start" the war. And that's what Israel did in 1967.
2
Whoever shoots first starts the war. It’s like the south constantly claiming the north started the civil war - they still call it the war of northern aggression. South Carolina fired the first shots and started the war. Period.
3
Mr. Netanyahu is cutting so many deals to stay in power that it’s creating too great a risk for his country. In my opinion he is laying the groundwork for a very dangerous and complicated future for Israel. He and his group want to maintain the status quo and pretend the future of Israel’s neighborhood is not changing. I fear that Israel will pay a very uncomfortable price for this approach.
3
Well at least we would no longer have to pretend that Israel wants a two state solution. It wants the West Bank because the West Bank has the water and also free (stolen) land for its settlers. We can also stop pretending that Israel is a democracy since it won't give the vote to the Palestinians in the West Bank even though it controls their lives. I guess we can also stop pretending that the US cares about international law.
14
Israel, grasping and self-righteous, will annex the West Bank with our President's perverse blessing.
That's the easy part.
What comes next is the test of how badly they want to keep it.
To a continued chorus of how unfairly set-upon they are, Bibi-nation will need to contend with renewed vigor from people, yet again needlessly provoked, attempting to preserve their own sense of nationhood and heritage.
There are so many better ways to do these things...
2
Call me naive, but I don't think any state based on exclusion by religion can flourish in the long run. I understand why Jews wanted a safe place to call home. I married a Jew who lost family in the Holocaust and I'm very sympathetic. But from a purely practical, logistical point of view, I don't see it working without force. A nation that has to apply constant force to exist can never be truly at peace. And when I think of a Palestinian living under the current restrictions, my heart just sinks. I don't see it as sustainable.
11
And the majority of the people living on the West Bank will not be allowed to vote. Because democracy.
10
Gee, and here we were thinking Trump was against nation building.
10
1. Do not lump all Israelis, as many of these commenters do, with those who support Netanyahu's idea . Many Israelis would support a two state solution if their safety could be assured.
2. Jerusalem will be a problem. How can it become open to people of all religions? It wasn't before the Six Dat War.
3. Often forgotten is that many Jewish people were forced off their lands in Arabic controlled areas before and after the Six Day War. How are they fairly dealt with?
6
The traditional liberal, pro-peace stance generally seems to be 2-state solution. But given the realities on the ground and contrasted with the ideals that modern democracies like the US and Israel claim to ascribe to, I must ask: why?
A 2-state solution is all but infeasible now even before any "sovereignty" plan now being condoned by Bibi. Israel has purposefully and effectively carved up the West Bank with roads and checkpoints in a way that, if a state were to be established there tomorrow, it would be economically crippled and inherently insecure. Not to mention other considerations such as access to increasingly valuable aquifers that rest under the West Bank, the Jerusalem issue, etc.
With this prospect in mind, think about the alternative. A 1-state solution is essentially the status quo but without the boarders, the walls, and the barriers that have kept many people who seek peace from being able to begin that process. It could involve a reconnection between two peoples that might look like the reconciliation that occurred in post-apartheid South Africa. Adopting a 1-state solution would essentially force Israel to open up which may threaten many who stand fast by the idea of a "Jewish state" (or possibly more accurately a state for Jews) however, it would at the same time give Israel the opportunity of shedding it's segregationist and colonial traits and actually live up to the title "the only democracy in the Middle-East"
4
At least we Americans can show our 'true color' by backing a blatant example of apartheid, politically, financially and even militarily. It's about time!
8
The premier is only talking about a very small area heavily populated right next to Israel. If peace was ever acceded to by the Arabs it would happen, anyway. Why, because the PLO will not any Israelis live in Judea whatsoever.
Just like all Jewish people were removed from Arab lands in 1948.
4
@Howard No, he's not. Here's what Netanyahu actually said, in the article:
“I’m going to apply sovereignty, but I don’t distinguish between settlement blocs and the isolated settlement points, because from my perspective every such point of settlement is Israeli.”
Let's not us pretend about his position. After all, he has dropped all pretense himself and is quite clear about his intentions.
7
Annexation.
What seems a desperate stunt by the prime minister to save his own political skin has long seemed inevitable to me. Annexation has been proceeding slowly acre by acre for many years.
The two-state solution, so called, has failed to bear fruit despite years of negotiations. It's a wonder anyone still expects it to happen. How many decades have passed?
So let annexation proceed, as it will anyway. But let Israel remain a true democracy, too. Which means that all people living in its territory should have equal representation, equal vote in electing members of the Knesset.
4
I never understood how a two-state deal would work, at least any differently than it is now. A Palestinian state would never be permitted to have a traditional military, (i.e. tanks and planes and artillery), probably not even a militia. Imagine if they imported canons or rocket launchers. Israel would be under constant threat. It would be a dangerously volatile situation.
3
Netanyahu and his far right colonists have made a serious miscalculation. Their plan is that's settlement f"facts on the ground", political backing by the US, and superior military might will win eventually the day because the will of the Palestinians will be broken.
A fatal decision that was. Not only will the Palestinian will not be broken, but also the international demand for justice will not cease. Is Israel ready for decades of insurgency, extraordinary administrative cost, and international sanctions?
7
I actually think Israel should annex 5 miles into the West Bank as a buffer, and relinquish the rest. The country is way to narrow in the middle as it is, making its major cities much too vulnerable to attack.
I also think Jordan should contribute some land to a Palestinian State. Jordan, which is over 50% Palestinian, was part of historic Palestine, before the British gave it away to the Hashemite kingdom in 1922. Why shouldn’t they give up some territory? They can certainly afford it given the vast amount of Palestine it already has.
Someone had to start looking at the bigger picture here.
2
@Steven Roth
Had it not been for the Jordan River valley, that might work. But, that area is the key to security from the east and northeast, and Israel will have to patrol it indefinitely. BTW, despite hostile Jordanians in the King's Parliament, Jordan and Israel mutually depend on each other for safety and share intelligence info. Without Israel, and generous American support, Jordan would have long caved in to extremists.
2
Good to see the right wing of Israeli politics is finally being honest about whether or not it seeks democracy.
7
David Ben Gurion's dream come true!
2
One way or another; the world is about to see the real face of Israeli politics tomorrow. If Netanyahu is once again re-elected; it will be a clear sign that Palestinian rights are exactly none. If he is defeated; it will hopefully be a sign that there might yet be hope that a two state solution might someday come to pass. One way or another; the decision of the Israeli majority will tell us all we need to know. Israel the democracy; or Israel the land of Jewish hardliners who will never seek peace; except those on their terms only.
8
A quick look at a West Bank map, peppered throughout with hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements will reveal that annexation in all but name has been going for a long time.
15
Bibi is not doing Israel any favors. He is planting the seeds of destruction.
8
How many times since 1967 did Israelis hear warnings that “they are planting the seeds of their own destruction” from the left, and now look who’s destroyed , israel or the left?
6
Netanyahu merely made the informal incremental annexation of the West Bank into a formal public policy of annexation. Israel will grab all of the West Bank. There will be an insurrection. Israel will attempt to crush it. Middle east neighbors will intervene. The U.S. will jump in on Israel's side. The war will escalate because the war will provide countries around the world with a chance to follow up on agendas ranging like control of resources, access to trade routes (pipelines), and greater geopolitical influence. The Christian right in America will cheer as they wait for Jesus to descend from the sky. (Thank you Mike Pence and Ted Cruz). Jesus will descend; and he will condemn all the players for their distortion of his truth. Thank you, Baltimore Bibi. Thank you, Donald Trump. You are faithfully serving your role as agents of the Beast.
3
You may have been right 15 years ago, but not anymore. No Arab states will come to the aid of the Palestinians if another intifada breaks out, mainly because those Arab states (Iraq, Syria) don’t really exist anymore. Leftists on college campuses will click away on twitter and Facebook but other than that, Israel will face no serious opposition to annexation.
7
Other than sad and tragic, I don't know exactly what to say about this development. Israel had been taking West Bank land inch by inch. Now Mr. Netanyahu suggests one great big gulp. If there weren't already people there, it might make some sense. There are people there, with lives of their own, and histories dating back perhaps fifteen hundred years and more. It would be a disaster. At minimum, at bare minimum, the US should not be supporting this with any aid money to Israel.
6
The US is happily giving away other peoples lands to Israel even if it is illegal under international law.
Is there anything Israel wants that the US will not give away at zero cost to the USA?
229
How can you so cavalierly state that U.S. involvement in Israel is at "zero cost to the USA"?
From a dollars perspective, it's been many billions. And from a moral perspective, it's difficult and painful to add up the cost.
48
@Ellen
You seem to forget that all the billions are, by law, spent on U.S. goods and services. So, basically, the money (actually credits, not hard cash), all comes back to support U.S. jobs.
7
@Mark Shyres, and how does that make it moral or right?
12
Netanyahu's announcement finally tears away the façade, frankly and openly revealing the true reality of Israeli policy: that they have always intended to take all the land in the West Bank and Golan Heights for a greater Israel. The only problem has been those pesky Palestinians who happen to still live there. US unconditional support over the years has allowed Israel to be boldly intransigent. Dictating terms can hardly be called negotiation. But how much longer will the world stand by silently while Israel quietly and now openly gobbles up Palestinian land. The age of territorial conquest and acquisition is over according to the UN. But Israel, it seems, is deaf to the call.
242
@SC
Israel was willing on a number of occasions to trade land for peace, but the Palestinians refused a two-state solution. It is incorrect and inflammatory to assume that Israel always planned to annex the West Bank.
18
@Barbara Well, some people were interested in a two-state solution, but they tended to end up dead. Y'know, Folke Bernadotte, Yitzhak Rabin etc.
15
@SC
Jews accepted the 1937 Peel Partition Plan, the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the Clinton Parameters & Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a 2-state peace plan. All of these were 2-state solutions.
Israel signed peace treaties with both Jordan & Egypt even though that meant giving up large areas of Biblical Israel. That shows that Israel is more interested in peace than in territory.
9
Annexation might be a good thing as it would end the farce that Israel seeks any solution to the Palestinian dilemma other than taking all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Once the West Bank is annexed, Israel and the world would be forced to deal honestly with the issue of the Arabs living on that land. Do we give them full and equal human rights, do we leave them in unequal and inferior status, or do we get rid of them by expulsion or worse. There are no other choices. It's about time the world dealt with the reality of the situation.
8
Netanyahu instead of protecting Israel is destroying all prospects of long term peace. This region of the world will continue to see a tumultuous future, as long hard liners are in charge. Peace can only come through compromise. Compromise should not be confused with appeasement.
As long as Palestinians feel hopeless and helpless they will continue to fight. When you deny people their rights, no matter how powerful you are as a nation, you can never ever bring about long lasting peace. Israelis will always feel threatened and live under constant fear of being attacked. This is a lose-lose proposal, serving the interests of one man only.
3
The term "west - bank" is misleading. Haifa is in the west bank as a congresswoman recently stated. Indeed, when Arabs speak of the return of the west bank they mean all the land from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea.
7
@Dr. Sam Rosenblum
The future is not rosy in the West Bank.
2
@Greg
Ain't too rosy in France, either. Greg, want to become a U.S. citizen? Apply at the Mexican border. You might find something else to vent your anger.
1
@Rosalie Lieberman
"Greg, want to become a U.S. citizen? "
Answer: Never.
3
I would be concerned if I were an Israeli who depend on U.S. foreign aid and military aid, because with a corrupt demagogue like Netanyahu who seems to be gravitating more to a racist right wing fringe group that the continued support for his government may be a hard sell in the United States; people will only tolerate this kind of leader for so long, Robert Caro says power corrupts and Netanyahu is a perfect example.
Netanyahu may think he has Trump's support, but I find more and more people being turned off and repulsed by Bibi's corruption and feel like he's using our country.
3
It is time for Israel to take full control and possession of the West Bank and the Golan Heights. Jordan took the West Bank in 1948 in an unprovoked war against Israel. Israel took it back in 1967. Jordan, Syria and the so called "Palestine" have no interest in peace with Israel. If Israel takes over full control and annexes these areas, it will only serve to add additional protection of Israel from these blatant anti-semitic states. Take over Gaza too. A two state solution is not possible.
5
@Rescue2
Thank you. But don't confuse the people here with facts.
2
@Rescue2: so you’re saying Israel should take the West Bank and Gaza by military force, which implies crushing and slaughtering a large part of the civilian Palestinian population (which, by the way, has lived there for centuries) yet then you claim that Israel is the one that wants peace? Sounds like the peace of the conqueror. You know, like Pax Romana.
1
You fail to address the biggest issue, what do you do with the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank after the land they occupy becomes part of Israel? There are 1M in Gaza and 2.6M in the West Bank! If they became citizens, the Jews would become the minority. That has been and will continue to be the conundrum that is the Israeli/Palestinian problem. The two will not live in peace because they want to occupy and control the same real estate.
2
At West Point, they define leadership as doing the "harder right," rather than the "easier wrong." That is what we are missing on the international stage today---we have leaders staying in power by doing the easier wrong. I know the two state solution is a hard project to undertake...it is much easier to ignore the problem or offer solutions that make the problem worse. I know solving the immigration problem in this country would involve a hard diplomatic and political process, it is much easier to cage children and build a wall. In England, it is easy blame the EU, but hard to make the EU work better. We have so few leaders, like Jacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand, who weeks ago, perfectly modeled what it means to make hard decisions about gun control and supporting an inclusive immigration policy.
5
So it's now perfectly OK for one nation to occupy and then annex territory? Isn't that what the Nazis did in the 1930s? Isn't that what Putin is doing -- or trying to do -- in the Crimea and Ukraine? Oh, my.
13
@Distant Observer
It's actually what JORDAN did in 1947. It ILLEGALLY invaded and occupied the "West Bank" (Actually, Biblical Judea and Samaria) for 19 years. Israel is not "occupying" the land, it is REsettling what it was rightfully given.
6
@MGreen wait, what? Who gave it to them?
3
A patently cynical ploy by BiBi. The man is selling Israel’s very soul at the acquiescence of a U.S President who has sold his.
5
To state the obvious: Mr. Netanyahu gives Israelis what they want so they'll keep electing him.
That says something about Mr. Netanyahu, much more about Israelis.
7
I would love the New York Times to spend sometime asking the most uncomfortable question in Middle East - Is the two state solution even logically possible anymore?
I cannot see how it is possible to create a functioning independent nation out of the situation on the ground today. At best the Palestinians will end up with something like Puerto Rico and the US and look how that has played out!
10
Palestinian/Arabs and the peace camp, Israeli's that can vote, must not boycott this election or they deserve the results!!! Annexation has been the goal of the right wing all along:an Israel from the Jordan R. to the Mediterranean. It was, on the Right, dishonest from day one but moreso as they held power and years went by.They talked the "two state solution" while settling more lands. Dare to say "Israeli exceptionalism" when refuting the constant cry of "double standards" and victimhood when the UN and international law was cited. Russia cannot just take the Crimea. Thus they are sanctioned. We fought a UN sanctioned war to get Saddam out of Kuwait to uphold international law. These post WW2, land disputes, it has been agreed, must be negotiated. Gaining territory through was is prohibited.
The Israeli occupation of 52 years now has been based on security. Palestinian resistance to occupation has become the "security excuse" that Israel hides it's real goal behind because it can using outsized military might and a security state including undeclared nuclear capability we do not bother about.
The international community can no longer be fooled or be able to look the other way. Israel has to be held to international law or the rest of us, many Jews included, have to say goodbye to the Israel that was enthusiastically supported and was once going to be "a light unto nations" law abiding.
The much feared B.D.S. movement surely will thrive.
3
Voters, in the US and Israel, should vote for the candidate who most benefits them economically and ensures their security. Netanyahu fits the bill. Moreover, he has a close relationship with the most pro-Israel US President ever. As for corruption, Israel has an independent Attorney General and legal system and these issues will get sorted out. This is all moot anyway because the ultra-Orthodox will never sit in coalition with Gantz-Lapid because they want to stay out of the military.
3
The problem with the US government's approval of Israel's seizure of land, with a toxic combination of military force, population expulsion and settlement is that it gives broader legitimacy to these tactics.
So, whether it's the fate of Tibet, Xinjiang, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Donbass, Crimea or the Rohinga people (to name but a few) Netanyahu and the Trump administration are giving a big thumbs up to good-old-fashioned military conquest.
Moreover, the assumption that the boot will always be on an Israeli foot is both dangerous and naive.
3
Actually the future of the state of Israel is on the line. It’s s country that seems to have lost its’ way, its’ morality and it’s soul. Redemption is not something I see happening., for Israelis also can easily fall under the sway of demagogues like Netanyahu . Up to now that’s their ‘ leadership’.
2
@AdamStoler
Israel needs to look at their past, their history and realize, that demagogues and racists appear in any country and any ethnic group, it came happen there too.
3
@Chico
Correction: It can happen there too.
1
Palestinians have rejected 2 State multiple times, beginning in 1948 when the Arabs attacked the newly formed State of Israel in an attempt to drive the Jews into the sea.
After Israel forced out settlers in Gaza and traded land for peace, Israelis have been subjected to years of Hamas violence, while the Palestinian Authority pays life time pensions to terrorists who murders Jews.
Israelis want peace and security.
They have no willing or good faith partners.
If they have to consider unilateral solutions,
so be it.
10
Sounds like dealing from strength....but in the long run , only from weakness. There will be little sympathy and appetite for a militaristic solution among the America first isolationist crowd, Evangelicals not withstanding.
@FJM
Remind me when the Palestinians agreed to the formation of Israel in 1948 or at any other time?
Remind me when the Palestinians 'forced out' Israeli settlers from Gaza?
Who controls Gaza's land, sea and air borders?
3
@Pragmatist
Remind me that this place, where Jews and Arabs lived, was never the Palestinians’ to give or agree to give.
Remind me about the years of suicide bombings, murderous home invasions, kidnappings, car ramings, stabbings which preceded - and resulted in -sanctions and check points.
Israel forced out the settlers from Gaza. And got bloodshed in return.
Hamas doesn’t want peace.
Hamas wants Israel.
6
That photo isn’t a picture of Beitar Illit. It’s a photo of a street in Beitar Illit -biased to convince people that “settlements” are new tent-like groups of people.
For anyone who’s been there, these are major metropolitan areas.
5
Will we be financing another hundred year war like Vietnam again?
When you hold yourself up as an example of democracy, peace, and human rights, people will hold you to your claims.
Israel is held to a higher standard than the Palestinians because they claim a higher standard. When Israel does not uphold their own standards, they seem to be astonished when the world condemns them. It gets tiring when objections to Israeli policies somehow end up being anti-semitism.
Israel has to decide what democracy means. If they have no intention of ever having a state where the votes of Arabs could someday mean they are not a Jewish state, then they should make sure there is an Arab one. Claiming all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea based on scripture will not have the support of the rest of the world.
It will not be easy and many compromises will have to occur but the present situation is not sustainable.
8
This brings up the issue of legitimacy. Israel had no right to Palestine to begin with, and hence it is the legitimacy of Israel that is in question. Palestine had been a independent nation before most of it was illegitimately confiscated by Israel in 1946-7. Now Israel wants to complete their eradication of Palestine. This is why there will never be peace in the Middle East until the nation of Palestine is fully restored. Israel has NO friends outside of the United States. Its right to exist is imaginary and exists only in the Jewish mind.
4
@Michael
Excuse me?
Palestine was NEVER in history an independent, sovereign nation. Never.
The land was governed by the Ottoman Turks for 4oo years, and from 1917 - 1948, the British.
6
Never forget that the Palestinians rejected a two state solution at Camp David in 2000. Bill Clinton did a masterful job of bring the two sides to the brink of an agreement. PLO leader Yassar Arafat walked away from perhaps the last real chance to establish a Palestinian state.
7
And apartheid style oppression is the solution here?
5
When the Oslo accords collapsed in 1993, the first thing the IDF did was to bomb the still under construction Gaza airport. The second thing they did was to raid Palestinian offices and confiscate/destroy all title registrations, deeds, etc. that could be used to reclaim any piece of land inside and outside of pre-1067 Israeli territory.
So much about the rule of law and 'democracy'.
What a joke.
And just to make sure, that nothing like Oslo will be repeated, Rabin was killed by not an Arab, but one of his own tribesmen.
9
It is the tightest election Israel in memory, and Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival.
His opportunism knows no limits. Apart from courting ultra-right parties with his settlement policies, he also panders to the liberals by suggesting he might legalise cannabis if he won another term in office, seeking to take votes away from the new Zehut party led by the firebrand Moshe Feiglin.
Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party is in a tight race with the new centre-right Blue and White alliance.
Every other member of the Likud party running for re-election has expressed support for the annexation of the West Bank, except for Netanyahu. He capitalised on his interview on Israeli TV to give in, when asked why he hadn’t extended Israeli sovereignty to large settlements in the West Bank.
This resonates with the far-right parties with which he'll try to form a coalition government if he wins the biggest share of votes.
Trump and Netanyahu are political twins. They need each other to stay in office and both rely on the turnout of religious fanatics. To their delight, ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel and Christian evangelicals in the US support each other.
On Saturday, speaking at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump warned that a Democratic victory in 2020 could "leave Israel out there", in an effort to make the case to Jewish voters to support his re-election.
3
As a non Orthodox Jew I’ve often wondered how this group accepts the political backing of s group of zealots whose reason for support extends as far as the Orthodox ( and the rest of us heathens) can be converted to Christianity.
But then again, there’s never been logic in religion.
3
..it’s so easy for so many to comment and criticize.....unfortunately, you don’t live in Israel and, as a result, don’t fully understand the issues.
....with close to 1 million Jews now living in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the reality of a two state solution has diminished considerably.
In Israel, everyone knows, the Jews living there are not moving.
Peace in the Middle East has been evasive for over 100 years when Jews first went to Palestine from Eastern Europe.
Unfortunately, it will continue to be for the next hundred.
2
For 50 years we have been trying for a peaceful resolution without success. Lets move on and try annexation.
4
@ndbza
Yup, let's try what the South African apartheid regime did and see where it goes. Why wait?
Excellent idea.
5
So first Israel declares that "Israeli Arabs" are not full citizens of their country of birth, but only 2nd class citizens. Then Netanyahu plans to annex the West Bank. Even IF, a big if, West Bank citizens were allowed to become Israeli citizens, they would also be 2nd class citizens.
Israel has long (rightly) decried Hamas and other groups stated intention to wipe Israel off the map. This is the Israeli version of wiping out the enemy - bit by bit, take their land, demote their status. Such a move would make any peace impossible. Israel would use its standing army to control; the Palestinians would use the only means they have - violent outbursts.
I have long believed that as potential mediators or peacemakers, our job was to stand in the gap, i.e., to be even handed and, while maintaining a friendship with Israel, to also uphold Palestinian rights. Such a annexation move by Bibi would make that impossible. It would certainly make me rethink where I want to stand - and, if Bibi takes such action, it would certainly not be with him and his supporters.
5
While I follow the news about Israel closely and have visited Israel often (six times over 50 years, before and after the Six Day War) I do not consider myself knowledgeable about the specifics ( Area C) to voice an opinion. I suspect, just as here, those running for political office make election pledges that are never intended or expected to come about. The one thing I am certain about is that Israelis will elect a leader who has what is best for Israeli's future at heart. I am not as certain but suspect that a peaceful solution is not in the offing any time foreseeable. Making peace with Egypt and Jordan and a De Facto peace with the Gulf States is one thing; making peace with the Palestinians is quite another.
2
The idea that the United States benefits from an Israel “Special Relationship” seems far-fetched to me. Exactly what’s in the special relationship for Americans?
It’s pretty obvious what’s in it for Israel. First, large amounts of free foreign aid, though Israel is a rich country by any measurable standard.
Israel gets privileged access to the arsenals of the most advanced armed forces in the world.
Israel receives the support of American diplomacy, that spares Israel from the brunt of international legal condemnation or sanctions for Israel’s illegal settlement building and its human rights violations committed against Palestinians.
And what does America receive in exchange for all this generosity? The United States certainly receives the enmity of Israel’s ever-expanding circle of foes, who protest the Israeli Occupation, and it’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinians. The United States gets aggressive Israeli spy operations conducted on U.S soil, creating intelligence threats to American security. America got Jonathan Pollard, the American spy for Israel . The United States gets a powerful domestic lobby that pursues the incitement of wars between the United States and Israel’s enemies. And, in exchange for protecting Israel and its policies, Israel promises never to call an elected official an anti-Semite, as long as they unconditionally continue their support for Israel and its policies.
As an American, this seems like a pretty one sided deal to me.
11
@DCJ Intelligence , technology , Jobs as thousands of Americans are involved in the building of planes and missiles for Israel and as a condition for the aid Israel has to buy American equipment, an ally in a very strategic region of unreliable governments, and a first class ,educated ,superb military that has never asked for one American Boy to aid with its defense only the money to defray the costs of its massive defense needs imposed upon it by a veritable sea of hostile countries. Israel is as great an asset to America as you will find and considering that the money is all in the form of loans that must be paid back and is being paid back in multiple ways I'd say we got the better end of the bargain!
6
DCJ, spot on.
To me, the Irsael-US special relationship seems more like an abusive marriage, with the US -ostensibly the senior member of the partnership - stuck in the grip of a weird Stockholm syndrome, endlessly asking Israel “How high should I jump, dear?”
Israel interferes in US elections (exactly what was Netanyahu doing attacking a sitting US president in Congress during an election campaign?), spies on America, takes our money, and is protected from criticism and boycotts (perfectly legitimate political actions, unless taken against Israel) by American laws,
And in return, Israel has never stood shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers while we fight their Middle Eastern proxy wars.
Our blood, our sons and daughters, our money, yet they are the ones who get to be offended by criticism.
At least the Saudis don’t ask for handouts.
4
Israel has no reason to settle in the West Bank. They have plenty of land already to thrive. It is only some perverse belief that God meant them to have the whole thing despite the fact that there are Palestinian people that do have to go somewhere. Any mention of this and you will be accused of being an anti Semite.
11
Your comment is ironic. Replace the word “israel” with “ America “ and the words “west bank” with “the west”
3
@Allright
Have you ever seen a map of Israel? Without that area, the land is 9 miles wide. It is absolutely necessary for defense, as is the Golan.
6
Does anybody still think that Israel wants peace? They just want the land. Sad to see.
9
Netanyahu is bad for Israel, bad for Palestine, and the world. Not unlike Trump, he has done nothing to help a peaceful solution in the Middle East. He speaks from both sides of his mouth. He claims that he want a 2 stat solution, and at the same time, he keeps pushing forward with annexation. He is a bully, he is taking homes, jobs, and life of innocent people, and if he is elected, there will be more blood shedding, and the world isn’t going to stand by and pretend it isn’t happening any more. He must go.
8
Israel oughr to tell West Bank Palestinians that they can forget about an independent state on the West Bank. They had their chance. They didn't take it. That ship has sailed.
The West Bank needs to be incorporated into Israel-proper. West Bankers should get full Israeli citizenship and rights. Palestinians who lost land, money, or businesses should get Just Compensation as under the legal Doctrine of Eminant Domain. No "right of return". They get cash instead. You want your land back, take your cash and buy it back if it's available.
West Bank Palestinians can get some autonomy as French Canadians do in Quebec. And that's it. Case closed. With the huge influx of Jews since 1948 the region alloted to Jews is too small to support a viable state for Jews much less two states.
The UN should declare Gaza an independent state whether Gaza wants it or not. Israel vacated Gaza years ago. Egypt doesn't want Gaza back. Independence is the only viable outcome.
There's your Palestinian State. Gaza!
7
@MIKEinNYC: your condescending rhetoric towards the Palestinian people reminds me of the same rhetoric that the European colonialists had towards the people they oppressed. You should learn some history to see how that ended. That’s the ship that sailed.
5
@Samuel
I am not the least bit condescending. I am merely taking into account the geography of the place. The Nation of the Jews cannot practically be stuffed into the region which was assigned to them in 1948. I am not seeing any push to get Canada to allow its French minority to have a state of their own.
5
You are saying that Israel should take unilateral action resulting in the oppression and suffering of the Palestinian people, who’ve lived on that land for centuries. How is this different than what the British did in India, what the Belgians did in the Congo and what the Afrikaans did in South Africa?
History will rightfully judge Israel very harshly if they take over Palestinian land by force.
2
"Vote for me and I will give you the deeds to Palestinian land." ... Hmmm, that sounds a lot like vote buying to me. And since when is the land of the West Bank Netanyahu's to give away to his followers? In any case, the idea that we humans can actually "own" any land is just an agreed-upon mass delusion. The land now called the "Middle East" was around for millions of years before any humans existed, and it will be around long after those of us alive today are all dead. You can't take it with you. We're all just passing through on this planet.
5
The settlements are the result of confiscating private land. It's stunning to me that given the history of the Jewish people, that they are surprised when the former owners get upset and protest.
8
As a populist move aimed to win election claiming Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank may sound manly enough but the politico-military cost it involves is perjaps beyond the common Israeli's reckoning.
3
Some days ago, I met a Palestinian whom I asked what their opinion of Israeli elections. I was stopped half way by the retort: “Do not call my country Israel. My country is called Palestine”.
In the discussions that followed, the position of the future “State of Palestine” became clear - a state where all religions could live equally - “like Singapore” !
Some years ago, I was in a taxi driven by a Palestinian. He too felt that the future to be a One State where all religions are practised.
I skip the details not to offend the NYT readers and moderators.
Netanyahu is also taking the country towards that goal, albeit to win the elections. This is a good thing. According to Haaretz poll about 27% support West Bank annexation and 15% support annexing Area C.
Detractors say that we would end up with Apartheid (“separateness”) but that would only be a short interregnum.
It seems both sides, in their own ways, are going towards a One State Solution.
Let them go! The Future is a Flat Middle East where all religions can live equally!!
1
The day before the election, Israel's allegedly corrupt Netanyahu, will sell off anything so that he can win, and also propose retroactive legislation to preclude his corruption prosecution, let alone the taking of the West Bank.
Netanyahu has come to the US frequently to tells us how to we should run our country.
Yet he can't even run his country, without first figuring out how to enhance and increase his personal, financial gain.
Any sane Israeli, should not condone Netanyahu's alleged acts, and they should vote in a new government to relieve Israel of the putrid stench that has quagmired Israel, for Netanyahu's personal benefit for years.
It's the perfect time now for new, competent and honest leadership which is running against Bibi to assume power to cure Israel from its corruption.
3
The West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza belong to the Palestinians (including the water and gas resources).
The Golan Heights belong to Syria.
It's the law.
7
@Greg There is no law. If they want it let the come and get it! There is no law when setting international boundaries.
3
@mikemd1
Hey Mike that's great. I'm on my way to carve off a part of my neighbour's garden.
2
Netanyahu is causing the world to rethink the creation of Israel. The terms of the original gift have been violated almost continuously since 1948. Maybe it's time to re-instate the 1948 borders.
5
I refuse to support this.
5
The actions of Israel now are precisely what the "Wise Men" of the late 1940's feared. If the USA under a powerful President decided to give full support to a US-Israel political association which made the US the permanent supporter and supplier-as well as funder-of the Israeli state or "homeland'-(few were sure ehat would eventuate-then Israel would be attached to usd like a ball and chain and all it would take would be a movement or demand by ISraeli politicians or political power brokers here, in the usa, and the US would become the permentn servant and big brother of the Israeli state.
Almost all commentators then ridiculed the fears of anyone suggesting the USA-the planet's one superpower in a ruinous world-would or could be pushed around by a few hundred thousand deperate and impoversished survivors of the German-Russian attempts at eliminating Jewish people from Europe.
Our current President as well as LBJ, Nixon and all those after, have proven that the fears of the wise men were well within the confines of reality and that even as ever more US Jews make'aliyah', ever more religious red state voters support the right wing governments of ISrael, even though they know nothing about local politics.
5
Netanyahu isn't stupid. He just got back from AIPAC where he was sycophantically bathed in either direct or indirect praise and support by both the Republicans and Democrats. He was basically given a blank check and a green light by Chuck Schumer and other leaders to do anything he wants and the U.S. will still support him. His test run with the Israeli U.S. embassy move and the annexation of the Golan Heights were preludes to his wish to annex the West Bank. Having seen little to no push back from his protectorate, and muscle, the U.S., it was the green light he was waiting for. Sadly, this will not end well for Israel in the long term.
4
This writer does not understand our Israeli politics. Nobody believes that Netanyahu will annex territory. This is purely an election attempt to draw votes from a second party that is running on the annexing platform. Netanyahu does this sort of thing every election. It no longer works.
3
@Joseph Schwartz
Hopefully you're right Joseph. Can we look forward to the de-annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights?
2
Why divide Jerusalem? The city has been united for 99.9% of its 3,000 year history. It was only divided for the 19 years that Jordan occupied the eastern part.
Why give the Golan Heights to Syria? So they can again take target practice on Israeli farmers below, as they did in 1967?
Some commenters want the Israeli government to return stolen land to the Palestinians; some want the Russian government to return Crimea to Ukraine. Perhaps the U.S. government, with better presidents than Trump, could lead by example, by returning all land stolen from the Native Americans.
5
At last, some honesty. I wrote a letter to the NYT just after Trump was elected, saying that the Palestinians were toast. They were, they are and they will always be in a hopeless situation so long as we here in USA accept that Israel has a religious right, based on their view of their history, to possess the land from the sea to the Jordan River. Since it’s obvious that our religious right wing is aligned with theirs, and since it’s equally obvious that the rest of us here and the rest of Israelis are not going to expel the so-called settlers who have squatted in the West Bank, let’s just get to the actual question: What will be done with the Palestinians? Will they be allowed to remain on what was once their land without citizenship and without human rights, in a kind of hopeless and futureless apartheid? Or will they get pushed out to Jordan or Lebanon or Egypt or Syria? Either way, they get no country.
4
Sovereignty over the West Bank slogan by Netanyahu might well be a pre-sale price tag which the Israeli voter might not consider worth buying.
1
Netanyahu and his "schemes" are the greatest threat to the future of Israel and the harmony within Western society of Jews throughout Europe and beyond.
If annexation is approved this Tuesday by the voters, Israel as we have come to know it, a functioning modern democratic state, will cease to exist.
This is a tragedy happening in real time. It is as stupid for that country and its citizens as the Brexit vote was for the future of Great Britain.
How can modern, educated peoples in so many advanced technological developed countries become so ignorant overnight and vote to destroy decades of political, economic and social achievements?
5
Little has been said about the Number One reason for Israel's unwillingness to remove itself from the west bank and the unrealistic Jewish community living there.
My word usage of "unrealistic Jewish community" will undoubtedly create some discomfort among the 'believers"
Allow me to explain that just because "your people" occupied a certain area Three Thousand Years ago does not mean that area belongs to you--today.
If that were true. all of our current maps would be automatically rendered 'incorrect"and no one would be sure of who owned what.
Believers can believe what they choose but things don't work that way.
But, the Jews of Israel do have a legitimate reason for fear of a completely "free" Arab state as their next door neighbor.
If the Arabs have their own free state next door to Israel, there are plenty of people there still filled with hate for Israel and the Jews.
There is an excellent chance that those filled with hate and memories of the past will join to create a "destructive"bomb much like to one used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A free state is free to create such a bomb.
"Free" countries have created such bombs
The State of Israel (Fair or Unfair) feels more strongly than anything that there must not be an Arab neighboring country that is free to create such a bomb.
The real subject for Arabs and Jews of that area-- is Survival. Fairness has little to do with it.
And Bibi Netanyahu is pushing that thought.
Tuesday's election will be enlightening.
1
How can the leaders of civilized nations remain silent when the leader of another country blatantly declares that he plans to violate international law !
7
@Greg
Newsflash, international law is made up and unenforceable.
2
@Jonathan
International law has been "made up" by the United Nations. Israel has signed the UN Charter.
2
Assuming they are not just going to take down all the fences and give citizenship the elephant in the room is “where will Bibi put the Palestinians”? Considering that Israel has plenty of space for its people it looks like their will never be peace until the Palestinians are pushed to Jordan.
2
What is stopping UN General Assembly from voting for Palestinian state as done in 1948 for Israel? Does Security Council first have to approve a General Assembly vote without US veto?
2
"As Netanyahu Seeks Re-election, the Future of the West Bank Is Now on the Ballot"
And the only people who live in the West Bank who can vote on their future are the Orthodox Jewish settlers who have stolen the land.
8
Look how popular Bibi is - surrounded by eight layers of police.
2
Israel has been running an effective apartheid state for years. Now, Mr. Netanyahu has finally laid bare his intentions that have been long obvious to anybody with a brain: He wants to usurp all Palestinian lands. This week, Israel gets to vote on whether they want to permanently become the formal apartheid state like South Africa was, with no pretenses and great pride in it. I don't hold much faith in the Israeli voters as they have enabled this war monger for years. Soon, I suspect, they will officially become a nation in the vain of 1980s South Africa.
8
As an American who is not Jewish by faith or heritage, I would love to just turn my back on the dumpster fire that is the whole region. However the foreign and national security policy of our nation’s is deeply intertwined and more than a few seem determined to keep it that way.
This whole mess is not going to end well. The unwise actions of the Likud and allies may buy a season of stability, but in the long run will just make things worse. Israel cannot engineer its way around the hard facts of geography and demography both within and around it any more than the US can build a stupid wall that will stop migration from the south.
4
If he and his allies want to annex the West Bank, that’s fine. As long as he gives the vote to all people who live there, including the Palestinians. If he doesn’t, Israel will no longer be a democracy.
4
Who doesn’t want peace? That is now real clear.
4
Good analysis, but one important point was missed.
Polls show that 70% of Israelis oppose annexation and 15% support it. Same as 20 years ago.
Netanyahu thinks he can continue to control the far right.
It's too risky. Tomorrow vote Blue and White!
2
Let's not get carried away and pretend anything Netanyahu is threatening will turn out to be permanent even if he is re-elected. That would not accurately reflect the history of Israel.
2
Israel is an excellent example of the weakness of parliamentary democracy. When no one party can muster a clear majority, small, often extreme parties become the marginal support necessary to form a majority. The price those parties exact for support is influence far in excess of their representation in the country. Italy has often suffered from this dynamic as did France under the Fourth Republic. Sadly, Brexit may possibly produce a similar situation in Great Britain.
The population of Israel is relatively secular, yet because of its parliamentary fragmentation, right-wing ultra-religious parties wield huge power. For all our problems, we are generally spared that, Ralph Nader's candidacy in Florida in 2000 giving us a foretaste of fragmentation's unintended consequences.
Zionism was originally intended to normalize the position of Jews in the world after two thousand years of living entirely on the float. In that it has succeeded. Now, just like Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus, the Jews have a country run by a bunch of self-serving, self-aggrandizing, power-hungry miscreants.
Thus, Jews outside Israel should no more be automatically held accountable for the actions of Israel, let alone be expected to have a critical opinion of the country, than a Catholic should be held accountable for the policies of the Vatican, Ireland, Mexico, or Poland, than a Muslim for Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, or Syria, a Hindu for India, a Buddhist for Myanmar, etc.
6
What is really on the ballot is America's future relationship with Israel. AIPAC has for years obscured any debate about the occupation.
Israel has slowly but surely annexed big chunks of the West Bank making a two state solution a near impossibility.
Congress went along with it, as did several presidents and of course the American media played its role stifling debate.
The only two issues being decided by this election are rapid annexation, our continued occupation and slower annexation.
Whichever course Israeli voters choose it will be impossible for those who uncritically "support Israel" to deny that they are supporting a massive, continuous human rights violation.
It consists of mass detention without trial, direct targeting of civilians, imprisonment of juveniles, unlawful home demolitions, collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and a crushing illegal blockade that is itself an act of war and probable war crimes against unarmed demonstrators.
If congress and the president thinks that this reflects American interests and values then let them say so. Let them hold hearings and announce to the world why we support ethnic cleansing.
Let them explain why we think international law applies to others but not Israel and not the US.
I don't believe that this reflects the views of the American people. But if America is not critical of these steps then we are complicit in those crimes.
6
If there's enough votes, then Israel should annex the West Bank. No outside intervention can forever prevent delusional desire for self-harm. If the annexation works, then the world will be pleasantly surprised. If not, as most predict, then it's a collective lesson Israel must learn on its own.
Sure, a failed annexation would seriously harm Israel and Palestine. But if annexation is inevitable, then better to make the mistake now than later, when the region is under even greater strains of population growth and climate change.
It just occurred to me; for years the onus for the land taking by Israel has been put on everything BUT the Israeli people. It's been put on the difficulty of the process, Likud, Netanyahu, settler movement, the hard right, on & on always a moving target.
Finally, now we get to see if in fact it's the average Israeli who turns a blind eye to justice. Let's hope the outcome enhances Israeli prestige around the world rather than tanking it.
2
I hope & pray that there is never a takeover of the West Bank. There is already far too much anti Semitism in the world that would almost surely be broadened with such an act.
Long standing peace requires courage, something that many Palestinians and Israeli's don't have. But to succumb to worst instincts of mankind is a very short-sighted policy.
3
The most ominous thing about this is not Netanyahu's pronouncements, as that's who he is, the right-wing ideologue who really never supported the 2-state solution or a genuine equal peace with the Palestinians. No, the most troubling here is that Netanyahu reflects the majority of Israeli public opinion, especially among the young people.
It seems that naked racism has become a popular point of view in Israel. Israelis debate in the open proposals of how to get rid of the Palestinians or keep them in eternal bondage. These vary from plans to evict or expel them by force, to dubious "population exchange" schemes, to calls to annex the West Bank and rule over its 2.5 million Palestinians without giving them equal rights (official apartheid), to keeping some form of the status quo (a mix of military rule, partial annexation, and apartheid policies).
Ultra-nationalism is very perilous. And democracy is not enough; especially a democracy that favors one ethnic-religious group over another and does not grant equal citizenship to the people it rules over in the same territory.
Without a decisive shift in Israeli politics and, the future seems to be grim indeed, with communal violence erupting in ways that resemble the Balkan crisis of the 1990s multiplied by many times over. Unfortunately, the US, with the Trump administration in charge, has never been more blind in its support of this disastrous direction, and the international community has never looked more helpless.
3
No the future of the West Bank is not on the ballot. Israel does not unilaterally decide on the future of the State of Palestine. The international community and the international courts do.
However the future of the State of Israel IS on the ballot and Israeli voters need to understand this.
4
The solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is well-known, is acceptable to the West and the to rest of the world, is consistent with decades of official US foreign policy, is consistent with UN Resolutions and international law, is consistent with the principles laid out by the Quartet, and is consistent with the proposal put forward by the Arab League.
It is what the world demands and what Israel refuses to accept: 2 viable states; 1967 boundaries with mutually agreed land swaps, right of return negotiated using both (limited) property and (fair) compensation.
It comes down to what Netanyahu & Co. wants vs what the rest of the world needs.
4
The Palestinians aren’t going to destroy Israel: Israel is going to destroy Israel. Mark my words.
23
Israel is not going to destroy Israel- Israel will become more opressing to Palestinians and less Democratic. It will destroy the picture of Israel that liberal Jews enjoyed while not making aliyah. If Trump loses in 2020 and ultimately there is pressure to cut US aid to Israel,Israel can Ally with China and othets
3
HELLO, ANYONE HOME?
Anyone home in the governments of civilized Western nations? Wake up. International law is being trashed while you sleep.
41
@Greg
Wars have consequences. Perhaps the Arabs should have considered the prospect of LOSING before they waged them against Israel.
4
@Shenoa
First of all, Israel attacked first.
Second:
In the occupation and settlement of West Bank and the blockade of Gaza, the State of Israel has committed numerous violations the Fourth Geneva Convention:
Article 3 1c) prohibition of “outrages on personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment”
Article 18 “civilian hospitals …. may in no circumstances be the object of attack”
Article 33 “no protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties ….are prohibited”
Article 49 “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Article 53 Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property ….is prohibited.
2
Egypt stared the 1967 war by blocking the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping - an act of war. Israel responded. Jordan got into the war a few days later. After being warned by Israel not to attack, Jordan did just that. They attacked Israel from the West Bank The rest is history.
Netanyahu hits bottom but keeps on digging. He is risking to entire long-term future of the State of Isreal in order to cling to power. To make matters worse, he fans the flames of anti-semitism world wide.
15
Such naïveté Mr. Halbfinger.
The election is about Mr. Netanyahu, does he stay or leave.
As for Mr. Netanyahu's campaign promises, his partners, past, present and future know what those promises are worth.
Mr. Netanyahu, despite what you think is extremely cautious and careful in the implementing of his policies.
As for the Palestinians and the West Bank, there is no real difference between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gantz and the that matter between any Israeli Zionist party.
There is no partner, any deal offered short of complete agreement to Palestinian demands is rejected by the Palestinians (deals offered by Ehud Barack and by Ehud Olmert). Even Meretz could not agree to those demands or implement them.
So it is not the future of the West Bank. It is the future of the current Prime Minister.
13
@Joshua Schwartz
I'd say it is the future of the State of Israel that is on the ballot. If another far-right government wins it will be the future of Isreal that loses.
4
Perhaps Netanyahu really sees this as his path to election victory, but has no intention of following thorough. Only he knows unless ..... this maneuver was planned with Trump? If so, the American people have a right to know.
The unintended consequences of annexation could have wide ranging implications for US policy in the Mideast, and this has Trump's 2020 sneaky handwriting all over it.
Either way this shift away from two state solution is something the President should be speaking about. It would be a huge shift in US policy, forced upon us by Israel. So will Trump say something?
Doesn't the country deserve to know?
6
Yes it could be that Trump wants to please his Evangelical Christian supporters and they are very strong supporters of West Bank Jewish settlements
3
Sovereignty of the settlements is another Netanyahu deception. While this may be attempted someday, Netanyahu's real objective today is complete control of Palestinian water resources.
8
@Greg
“Water shortages in the Palestinian Authority are the result of Palestinian policies that deliberately waste water and destroy the regional water ecology. The Palestinians refuse to develop their own significant underground water resources, build a seawater desalination plant, fix massive leakage from their municipal water pipes, build sewage treatment plants, irrigate land with treated sewage effluents or modern water-saving devices, or bill their own citizens for consumer water usage, leading to enormous waste. At the same time, they drill illegally into Israel’s water resources, and send their sewage flowing into the valleys and streams of central Israel. In short, the Palestinian Authority is using water as a weapon against the State of Israel. It is not interested in practical solutions to solve the Palestinian people’s water shortages, but rather perpetuation of the shortages and the besmirching of Israel.”
2
@m1945
Whether what you say is true or not true, it simply has no bearing. How the Palestinians manage their water resources is their business, not Israel's.
2
Israel's survival as Jewish state requires separate Palestinian state which is possible without settlers losing their homes if they become Palestinian (or joint) citizens with rights protected just as in -948 when Palestinians in Israel became Israeli citizens.
3
As usual, the NYT gets it wrong:
1. Extension of sovereignty is not annexation. The former involves the designation of prevailing civil law and courts, the latter is a redefinition of borders. The article confuses the two.
2. The whole point of designating Area C, was that it would eventually by annexed to Israel. The only change is that it is happening as a result of a creeping status quo, not a formal agreement.
Palestinians are not ready to live in peace. Israelis have a right to move on. In the interim, Palestinians enjoy full autonomy where they live in Area A.
13
@SG -- "The whole point of designating Area C, was that it would eventually by annexed to Israel."
No, it wasn't. That is a huge part of the West Bank always intended to become part of a Palestinian state. They were not meant to be confined to the crowded settlements they are left in now.
13
@Mark Thomason
Actually, you are in error. It was thought that Israel would swap land in other areas to make up Area C. In the absence of a negotiated peace, the Arabs lost that.
Also, there is nothing cramped about area A and B. It is mostly vacant.
7
@SG
When you say "it was thought" just who are you referring to. It certainly wasn't the Palestinians and it certainly wasn't me. I have a real problem with the idea of a thief swapping with the victim what he stole from the victim.
16
Netanyahu with a little assist from Trump is turning Israel into a rogue country. Trump has already allowed him to annex the Golan Heights which belongs to Syria, and now he wants to add to the loot by annexing the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians for dead. Meanwhile, Trump and Netanyahu by cutting all humanitarian aide to the Palestinians, are adding to their misery. The Netanyahu regime has turned the Gaza strip into a giant prison. If this shameless land grab should continue, the Israeli government should be submitted to harsh international sanctions. That's the only language that the Netanyahu regime can understand. Speaking against the Netanyahu regime, its' Apartheid-like policies, and its continuous abuse of Palestinian human rights, is not anti-semitic. His actions are turning international public opinion including many non-Israeli jews against his Israel.
14
@Mireille Kang -- Trump with a little help from Netanyahu has continued the US course as a rogue country, started by Dubya, an unchecked national security machine under Obama, and now in total control with guys like Bolton and Pompeo.
Netanyahu is just enjoying the ride.
He's trusting people who've proven they can't be trusted, and will take down into disasters like Iraq and Syria whoever mistaken trusts them.
5
@Mireille Kang
"The Netanyahu regime has turned the Gaza strip into a giant prison". Really? Then as Gaza is run by Hamas, not Israel and not Netanyahu, I'd suggest you file complaints with Hamas as to the conditions in Gaza.
13
@Mireille Kang
Syria attacked Israel in 1948, 1956 & 1973 & in between Syria fired artillery from the Golan Heights at the Israeli farmers down in the valley below. Syria's aggression should not go unpunished. Syria should lose the Golan Heights. Punishing aggression by taking territory can help deter potential aggressors.
2
The West Bank has already been annexed. While the checkpoints are not as efficient as the erstwhile border controls of East Germany, they do their job.
Any way, this will all be moot after the point of peak oil and the United States no longer needs a tarmac for ready access to the middle eastern oil fields.
Writing this from Jerusalem.
2
As a non-israeli jew my greatest fear is how the wake of the international blow-back, that is certain to follow such an insane move, would effect jews such as myself around the world. There is already a massive increase in anti-semitism not only from right and but also from the left driven in large part by israel. He doesn't seem to understand that however much jews all over the world may reject Israels unlawful behavior (and the vast majority do), they'll be the ones paying the price.
Unfortunately, Israel, born as a safe haven for jews all over the world, is becoming perhaps the most dangerous threat to the safety of those jews that Israel justified it's existence to begin with.
16
@Paul
Your confusion is astounding. A strong Israel that stands up for itself is the only protection that Jews around the world have. Had Israel existed, the Holocaust would never have happened. And as it didn't exist then, to what do you ascribe the cause of the slaughter of 6 million Jews? If that wasn't antisemitism I don't now what is.
12
Sorry Paul,there was anti Semitism way before Israel was founded. As an Israeli Jew opposed to Netanyahu I wish some of the American liberal Jews had made aliyah. But they chose the comfort of America and now it's too late. I think the current anti Semitism has more to do with the current world economic situation.
1
@Golda
I and many of my friends have spent much time in Israel and are great supporters of it. The vast majority of Jews here in the U.S. are staunchly liberal democratic people that support self-determination for all peoples from any country. Those values I consider reflect core jewish values. That being said, if annexation happened it both erode support from them as well as incur even more reactive positions from non-jews. Yes, I agree that the economic issues today is a great factor in the rise of anti-semitism today, but this would pour fuel on a highly -combustible situation.
I grew up thinking Israel was a bulwark of justice and decency in a very unjust region of the world. I and many of us closely identified with your country in regards to those values. It's important because American jews, as Americans, support country based on their creeds not their ethnic or religious identifications. Israel needs to understand that.
In any event I hope your country rights this ship tomorrow and does the right thing.
1
Annexing the West Bank and denying the Palestinians statehood isn’t anything new. Settlement expansion has been growing with impunity, and the Likud platform flatly rejects a Palestinian state. This idea that somehow Israel wants peace is all talk. Israel’s actions prove otherwise.
11
@Saul
Jews accepted the 1937 Peel Partition Plan, the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the Clinton Parameters & Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a 2-state peace plan. All of these were 2-state solutions.
3
Aw. Moses sure would be proud.
I suppose if you want to steal land from someone, best to steal it from someone who can’t stop you.
9
@NorthernVirginia
The Arab Conquest of this little corner of the Levant ended centuries ago, and it’s not coming back. It’s wasnt ‘Arab Land’ then, and it isn’t ‘Arab Land’ now.
13
Five years ago, when Russia - who hand spent hundred of thousands of lives in the Crimean War to keep it in Russia - declared that no historic claims justified upsetting the new International order that outlawed conquest of land by force. Putin was termed a criminal, and sanctions were implemented against Russia.
But the take over by force of land by is now called
"extending sovereignty" , rather than annexation, Netanyahu is not called a criminal . and sanctions , are not nowhere called for. Not even the suspension of billion of aid - abd aid that Israel, with a flourishing economy and amazing tech sector does not need
Annexation by force is annexation by forcel, be it Putin or Netanyahu, and sanctions and suspension of aid is called for, should it happen in the West Bank or in the Crimea
10
@talesofgenji
Or alternatively, neither action warrants sanctions.
Modern day boundaries hastily drawn up after WWII (or the fall of the USSR) are not sacrosanct, and some fights are not worth fighting.
Israel was quite willing to give the Sinai back to Egypt after capturing it in war, but has been less willing to give up the strategically important Golan Heights, a site from which Syrian soldiers once rained down bullets on Israeli civilians. As for Crimea, Russia's primary motive going back to the 1700s has been to obtain and keep a warm water port. The Russians eventually established naval bases at Sevastopol in the Crimea and in Latakia, Syria. And Russia will not forfeit those to governments it sees as hostile, ie, a Ukraine that joins NATO.
2
Now that Israel and Saudi Arabia are best friends, the US would be best suited to pull itself and it’s money out of the region. Saudi Arabia has exported terrorism, Wahhabism, etc., for decades. We have no strategic interest in the region other than massive weapons sales.
4
Any decisions made by religious fanatics of any kind, end up being despicable, dangerous, and will, in the end enact harm on the other. Too bad, that for decades there wasn't any real breakthrough for the moderates in Israel, and among the Palestinians. The United States for decades has poured about $4 billion a year, plus military equipment, and systems to Israel, and some to Palestine. Our Congress, and Presidents have contributed to all of the success in Israel as to their GDP, and all of the chaos, as well for both sides. Since 2002, in the middle east, we have been responsible for millions of deaths, millions of refugees laid on the doorstep of western Europe, and trillions of borrowed money with nothing at all to show for it. Meanwhile, does Israel, and Netanyahu care about all the death we created, as we aren't creating anymore death, by going to war with Iran, I guarantee that. The military is starting to see the handwriting on the wall, and it is not good for wanting to continue death, and destruction over there in the middle east.
4
The Israeli election seems more like a gathering of crime families to agree on a leader. The supporters of Netanyahu and Gantz are aware that both have committed crimes against humanity in the 2014 Gaza war.
11
@Greg
14 international former chiefs of staff and senior military officers reviewed the 2014 Gaza conflict from both the IDF and Hamas operations.
They visited Israel both during and after the conflict. They interviewed soldiers from the regular foot-soldiers to unit commanders all the way up to the highest ranks of the IDF. In their fact finding missions they also spoke with military intelligence personnel.
While conducting in-depth analysis into Operation Protective Edge they received unprecedented access to the IDF and to government officials up to the Prime Minister that, together with their impeccable military expertise, enabled them to produce a fair and factual report which they released in early December 2015.
They began by admitting that Israel's military efforts were entirely necessary and justified in the defense of Israel's national security as a result of the aggressive and offensive operations conducted against Israeli civilian centers by Hamas and their other terror affiliates in support of Palestinian Hamas actions initiated against Israel.
Their conclusions solidly stated that "Israel's conduct in the 2014 Gaza Conflict met and in some respects exceeded the highest standards we set for our own nation's militaries."
1
@Greg
Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British troops in Afghanistan, has repeatedly commented that, "during its operation in Gaza, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare." Furthermore, he points out that the steps taken in that conflict by the Israeli Defence Forces to avoid civilian deaths are shown by a study published by the United Nations to have resulted in, by far, the lowest 18of civilian to combatant deaths in any asymmetric conflict in the history of warfare. Kemp explains that by UN estimates, the average ratio of civilian to combatant deaths in such conflicts worldwide is 3:1 -- three civilians for every combatant killed. That is the estimated ratio in Afghanistan. But in Iraq, and in Kosovo, it was worse: the ratio is believed to have been 4:1. Anecdotal evidence suggests the ratios were very much higher in Chechnya and Serbia. In Gaza, it was less than one-to-one.
1
It is time for the EU to stand up for international law, as we can no longer count on the US for this. The EU must formally recognize the State of Palestine with the 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital.
10
@Greg
The 1967 borders were the 1948 armistice lines. The armistice agreement stated that these cease fire lines were not to be considered permanent borders. Why insist on borders that were rejected by both Israel & the Arabs?
1
About time Mr. Netanyahu. Any sane thinking person knows that the "two-state" solution just aint gonna work. We already have Gaza. We don't need another disaster like that on the eastern border of Israel. And in truth, there is Jordan which already exists and which was the home of most of the so-called "Palestinians".
The NY Times, US liberal leftists, Europeans, Beto, Bernie and all the rest can whip themselves into a frenzy about Netanyahu all they want. They aren't Israeli citizens, they don't live in Israel and they don't get to vote. Their skin isn't on the line whatsoever.
I'm so sick of the slanted anti_Israel articles that are printed here in the NYT. They are essentially all op-eds masquerading as news. Reading the often inane comments would be funny if it wasn't so sad. Most of the commenters haven't a clue what they are talking about. They get their info from these pages and then they spout off as if they really understand.
I'm proud that as a dual citizen I do get to vote and I will get to vote in Israel in 2 days. I've been back and forth in my mind as to which party I want to vote for; 3 main possibilities. At this point I may just vote for the party that the NYT hates the most and figure that's the best choice! The enemy of my enemy is my friend really does work sometimes.
13
You make such a good case for ending dual citizenship.
3
@Wan
Ah, spoken like a true liberal leftist. I'm sure if I'd said I supported leftists such as Meretz you'd be pleased as punch!
1
When Putin " began extending sovereignty over the Crimea"
Western powers called in annexation by force, a violation of the post WW II order, and hit Russia with sanction.
Less the West wishes to look like a hypocrite, the same is called for when Israel " begins extending sovereignty over the West Bank "
US aid to Israel needs to be suspended, and Israel needs to be hit with the same sanctions as Putin.
8
Lets all stop pretending that any Israel leader no matter who it is will let the Palestinians have a real country. It's not going happen. Israel has decided that the occupation will go indefinitely in the hope of breaking the Palestinians sprit, it won't. Somewhere in the future it will end badly, tragically and I'm sorry to say it's inevitable.
8
@joe
Every time Israel offers to end the occupation, the Palestinians say “No!”
Even Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia (certainly not a Zionist) said that Arafat’s refusal to accept the January 2001 offer was a crime. Thousands of people would die because of Arafat’s decision & not one of those deaths could be justified.
As Clinton later wrote in his memoir:
It was historic: an Israeli government had said that to get peace, there would be a Palestinian state in roughly 97 percent of the West Bank, counting the [land] swap, and all of Gaza, where Israel also had settlements. The ball was in Arafat’s court.
But Arafat would not, or could not, bring an end to the conflict. “I still didn’t believe Arafat would make such a colossal mistake,” Clinton wrote. “The deal was so good I couldn’t believe anyone would be foolish enough to let it go.” But the moment slipped away. “Arafat never said no; he just couldn’t bring himself to say yes.”
1
Did you know that India, population over 1 billion, is having elections this month?
Or Indonesia, population 264 million?
Not of you depend on the Times, whose exhaustive coverage of Israeli elections (population, less than 9 million) has overshadowed coverage of these giant and far more strategically important nations.
Can we please calibrate coverage to the relative importance of each nation?
23
@Serrated Thoughts The NYT's coverage of the lead-up to India's election has been extensive. If you're really interested, you might want to consider signing up for the dedicated newsletter:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/world/asia/india-elections-sign-up.html
1
@Serrated Thoughts -- The US pays billions every year to Israel, and none to India nor Indonesia. The US has given an effective security guarantee to Israel, but not to India nor Indonesia. Israel is doing things likely to turn that guarantee into war, using our money, and requiring a lot more of our money and our military too. India and Indonesia are not.
So, which is important to us?
10
I have a personal interest in both elections and there have been more articles and columns on the election here in Israel than the Indian election
1
Take it. Take it now while Trump’s still in power.
Take it now while the world order is in disarray.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will give you his blessing.
If you don’t do it now you will never have the courage to take it.
50 years from now you will know it was the only way.
This is your “Louisiana Purchase”.
The world map has always and will always be fluid.
4
@New World -- In a few years time, Trump won't be there, and the Palestinians will. What then?
5
Plagued by fear and the mindset that allowed for the assassination of Rabin when peace may have been close so many years ago, Israel will self destruct with this stark right wing turn. Not that Netanyahu is not right wing, which he has been all along, but you can only be wring for so long when you treat humans inhumanely. People of the Jewish faith of the Torah understand this principle. For a people who have stated for decades "Never Again," with good cause, annihilating the Palestinians and their hope for some freedom from their despair about which Israel and Israelis are directly responsible is not the answer. To do unto others what someone else did to you is just plain wrong. To do something to a people that as a people you will not have done to you again is like doing it again but to someone else-- and that is supposed to be right?
Electing Netanyahu will just be error compounded by more error. At some point the errors will require accountability and the price will be steep. Two wrongs: Netanyahu and taking more Palestinian land cannot make things right. It will only make things worse.
15
@Hanan
I am amazed at how good Israel is to the Palestinians. Israel delivers hundreds of truckloads of food & supplies to Gaza every day even though Gazans persecuted Jews for centuries & have fired thousands of rockets & mortars at innocent Israeli civilians. Israeli doctors treated 180,000 Palestinians last year. Israel even treats members of Hamas in Israeli hospitals.
2
There was a time in history when Confucius, Pythagorus and Buddha lived around the same time. Unfortunately now we have Trump, Bolsonaro, Modi and Bibi all cut from the same fabric. Such is history!
5
bibi has slipped over the decades . . . this is what happens when an aggressive, egotistical type-a personality is consistently rewarded for increasingly in-your-face behaviors . . . he has gone from the early days when he was seen -- with some justification -- as a leader seriously interested in finding solutions to difficult problems to where he is today: a bombastic shifting opportunist determined to retain power by any means, unmoored to principle . . . in fact, his supposed boldness is a severe overreach that not only tramples on fundamental jewish values of concern for humanity, fairness, and righteous living but also threatens in the longer term to bring down the wrath of the nations on a small country that once was admired world-wide . . . study how a small group of similarly self-intoxicated, ego-driven pseudo-messiahs in the years leading up to 70 c.e. over-reached, bringing down the wrath of the roman rulers and caused the destruction of herod the great's famous second temple, an event now mourned by jewry around the world for two millennia . . .
5
Imagine if Mueller had recommended charges against Trump and The Republicans in the senate told him they would pass laws to protect him if he signed on to whatever extreme agenda they wanted.
Any leader that can have their power exploited to serve anyone but the people is not fit to lead.
9
It’s enlightening to read what armchair critics have to say vis a vis Israel...most of whom have never set foot in that country, thus have very limited to zero knowledge as to the facts on the ground....who know next to nothing of Israel’s history (both ancient and modern)...and who rely on fictional narratives and mendacious propaganda to form the basis of their endless...and I do mean ENDLESS....opinions.
Here’s some truth for you: multiple offers of statehood, appeasement efforts, and territorial concessions to the Arabs have not brought Israelis even one day of peace. As a consequence of 70+ years of war and terrorism perpetrated against them, Israel has responded as any sovereign nation would. ‘Never again’ is not some empty platitude. This time around, the Jewish nation is armed to the teeth.
20
Which gives them license to act in a manner totally against all teachings of the Talmud ????
12
They force their secular soldiers to do the dirty work.
7
@Huxan
Since when is the rightful defense of one’s nation and fellow citizenry in response to ongoing hostile aggression considered “dirty work”? Or is that descriptive only reserved for Israelis who rightfully defend against attack.
10
Israel was invaded and in the process of defending themselves they took the West Bank. Thy did not start the war. They did not set out to obtain this region. It is the spoils of victory and they should annex it.
15
@Mike L
Actually, Israel struck first in '67. But beyond that, maintaining an eternal police state is senseless, destructive and self-destructive.
8
@Linda
The '67 war was just a continuation of the '48 war. Egypt broke the cease fire by blocking the Straits of Tiran so the war resumed. Israel didn't start a war.
"We will not accept any ... coexistence with Israel. ... Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel .... The war with Israel is in effect since 1948." – Nasser, May 28, 1967
1
@Mike L
Yes, spoils of war. Should the U.S. give Texas back to Mexico, or Puerto Rico back to Spain?
1
By annexing the Palestinian territories, Israel will provide a level of security that Muslims living in Syria, Iraq and Yemen can only dream of.
Palestinians - especially women - will also likely enjoy more freedom than their fellow Muslims living in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
14
Netanyahu cares more about his own political survival than he does about the future of Israel and the safety and security of Jews around the world. Instead of working to stem the rising tide of anti-semitism, Netanyahu seems intent on cementing Israel’s status as an international pariah. By annexing the West Bank, Netanyahu will only add to the impression that Israel considers itself above the laws that other first-world countries abide by and that it is a democracy in name only.
263
@David Eike
And just what is the U.S. role in all of this, and why is it not examined more closely in Congress?
12
@David Eike
This set of comments reflect the tone and quotes of the article.
It is about time that an Israeli leader is no longer pressured into the impossible and untenable:to have terror states on almost all its borders.
2
@David Eike
Seriously? Written by someone living in a country that has invaded Vietnam, Grenada, and Iraq without provocation? Upon what are Americans claims to a higher moral ground based?
15
Bibi is out for himself and not the Jewish state. My grandmother uses to say in Spanish “dime con quien Andes, y te dire quien eres.” This means tell me with whom you walk with, and I will tell you who you are.”
Bibi walks with Trump.
7
@Irene Cantu
I voted for Trump and likely will for Netanyahu as well. you may find that appalling but I and many others certainly do not. But as a leftist I'm sure that's not something you can possibly understand.
2
I am not a leftist and still don't understand. Care to explain?
2
“Oy gevalt” is right.
As a supporter of Zionism, who visits Israel every year, and has close family there — I beg my Israeli brothers and sisters: don’t do it.
It’s just a bad idea on every level. There are other options still out there.
6
Bibi got re-elected last time by promising never to give back one inch of the occupied territories and never giving Palestinians their own country. Unfortunately our representatives are powerless to do anything about it since anyone opposing Israeli policies is immediately called a 'anti-Semite'. Sad to see so many US politicians so silenced by Israel and their US puppets here.
30
Can illegal seizure of these lands be anything other than a prelude to the expulsion of the Palestinians living there?
5
@expatThey will be told to move or else and the West will do nothing just like they did in the 1930's, except now the shoe is on the other foot. Jim Trautman
3
@expat
They don’t have far to go. Walk east, cross the river and your in good old Jordan, safe and sound.
2
Netanyahu will say anything, and ally with anyone, to be re-elected.
He is as venal and corrupt a politician as one could imagine.
In that, a perfect match for Individual-1.
23
I can only think of one leader more deplorable than this corrupt Israeli leader. His last name begins with a T. . . .
8
How did calling people “deplorables” work out in the last election?
2
No democracy keeps millions of human beings penned up in open air prisons in the land of their birth awaiting an emancipation which never comes.
32
@God
Obviously said by someone who has never set one foot in Israel or the territories.
5
Surrounded by hostile countries, Israel needs a strong leader who can keep his citizens safe. PM Benjamin Netanyahu has done his best to keep Israel prosperous, safe and stable. If he had advanced the peace process with the Palestinians he would have been a great statesman of Israel. But he has managed to develop strong relations with USA, India and EU while having good relations with Russia, China and some countries in the Arab world. I have no idea about what allegations he is facing but I think he deserves another term.
37
@waldo from Canada, Anyone who thinks that the Jewish state is settled on stolen land is questioning the existence of the state of Israel. It is now over 70 years since the establishment of the the Jewish state of Israel side by side with the Palestinian state. There are several Palestinians living and working in Israel and Israel has made the best use of their land and has advanced and progress since its independence. Giving the Jewish people a sliver of land to live safely and practice their religion in peace was an obligation of the world which was impotent to prevent the atrocity committed on the Jewish people called the holocaust. Read history before you justify the hostility of those countries.
If Israel gained additional land from its neighboring countries, it did so by winning 2 wars that were thrust on it. No aggressor should benefit from hostile armed aggression. Have you read about a brutal and barbaric invader called Adolf Hitler. Did he deserve to gain a single inch of territory that did not belong to his motherland? No. So he got what he deserved.
I am not saying that the Palestinians did not get a raw deal, but they chose violence from the very beginning of the formation of Israel until 1993 when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israel prime minister Rabin met to sign the beginning of the peace agreement and I continue to hope that both parties stay the course of non violent peace talks until a 2 state peace is achieved. That is what the US supports.
24
@Girish Kotwal
Let me get this straight.
You actually think a man under no less than 3 criminal investigations deserves to be elected as leader of your country???
56
@Greg from Lyon, France. Netanyahu is innocent until proven guilty. The investigations are ongoing and I am sure when the investigation is complete that Israeli law will prevent Netanyahu from continuing to be prime minister. Israel is a democracy and justice will prevail. As far as we know there is no indication that Netanyahu has done nothing as horrific as the butcher of Lyon.
8
Palestinians were stateless before Israel was created, blew their chance at statehood when Israel was created and will remain stateless until they stop living in the past. Without that, all the hand wringing by people in this country and around the world expressing their support for a Palestinian state won't bring Palestinians any closer to having their own state.
15
It’s not Palestine, it’s not Jordon, it’s not Israel, so what is the West Bank anyway? Can you blame Bebe for not wanting to claim something that’s just been sitting in the lost and found box for three quarters of a century that nobody else seems to want or know what to do with? It might even belong with the same set as Golan. Now is no time to get all Biblical. Samaria and Judaea were all just make believe and superstition anyway.
2
For the Greater Good of Israel remind anyone of someone else who took what he wanted in the 1930's because the powers in the West let him. How did that movie play out. We are on the same road Trump lets Bibi do what he wants and letting him have the Golan Heights just opened the door to take it all. The Jared peace plan where is it and that is joke. I lived in Alabama in the 60's and went to the Baptist Church and the population was anti semite hated Jews, but now along with Trump whose family have a long history of the same it has not changed for a simple reason. The so called right wing Christians are pushing for major nuclear war so that Christ can come back. Talk about delusion. Why does anyone think the hypocrites back Trump. Democrats painted anti Israel now there is a joke. We have been letting them do what they want for decades and now it is time for the Israeli population to look in the mirror and see and admit what they have become no better than the man in the 1930's. The US under each administration arms them with our newest weapons and yes, their economy for simple reasons we give them billions still in aid and they use the labor in the Occupied Territortiers to save on labor costs. Sound familiar. Bibi is a crook who has made millions, but don't worry he will win the election. He is in bed with the leaders of Hungary, Poland who are anti semites. Saudi Arabia working on its own bomb and Israel has at least 100. Before it is to late put astop to it. Jim Trautman
7
Bibi is making Israel a hate target. I don't believe any country or regime would stay in power forever. When Israel loses its edge, I hope whatever happened in WWII wouldn't repeat
3
It looks like its time to push for a single-state solution with equal rights for all.
5
@gschultens
Except the vote.
@gschultens
Does that mean that you are in favor of annexation as annexation would mean one state?
1
There is no honour in Israeli politicians. Starting with the Balfour Declaration they have broken every deal, promises, contracts, treaties etc that might have gone against the creation of Greater Israel. Just see the map. 1948 - 1967 - 2019. Facts speak for themselves.
And the Palestinians ? Who ?
7
@AGC
Who ?
3
@AGC
Israel has observed its peace treaties with both Jordan & Egypt. That Israel signed these treaties even though that meant giving up large areas of Biblical Israel shows that Israel is more interested in peace than in territory.
1
As a member of a Holocaust family, let me state once again that being anti-Israel in the Netanyahu era is not the same as being an anti-semite. The absolute depravity of Mr. Netanyahu in revealing what was always obvious in not only his opposition to the two-state solution, but now in annexing all of the West bank is an international crime that should require a U.N. sanction as well as an international boycott. The very identity of Israel as a Jewish homeland is threatened by the ruthless, illegal act. One can only hope that there's still a democracy in Israel and the voters will reject this power grab by a corrupt and desperate despot.
120
@Paul Wortman
The occupiers of Palestine have NEVER run a democracy. eg. Read the 5 sessions of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. An international panel of jurists reviewed the UN`s definition of apartheid & then heard from dozens of witnesses. Their conclusion was that apartheid is a systemic part of the policies & actions of the Israeli government and has been for 7 decades.
www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/
1
I never thought we'd become fascists. The right wing is destroying Israel both here and there.
39
If annexed, the west bank would become Israel's responsibility. That means 2.6 million new citizens that will be expected to receive healthcare, food, jobs and other rights of citizens.
If they refuse then they are just conquerors and will reap the benefits of that by being shunned in the area and the world.
Pick your poison.
6
@richard g
They’ll take the later in a heartbeat
The real question is whether this is an actual policy pronouncement or a somewhat desperate attempt to sway votes from other parties to increase the Likud's numbers. The comments here on the Israeli election make for interesting reading, revealing as they do far more about the commenters than about the issue at hand.
Lost in it all is the basic point that Israel's is the only Western-style democratic election in the entire region. If only their neighbors would follow suit and become democratic and not remain autocratic or worse, all the region's people’s would benefit immeasurably.
3
We all forgot that USA and Israel are not really into democracy. Not too long ago both USA and Israel backed coup d'etat to overthrow a democratically elected Egyptian civilian president. Democracy is a convenient tool for USA to interfere in other countries' election and domestic affairs.
7
@CK And how precisely did Israel help overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt? Did it hypnotize the Egyptians or are you just making things up? Are you also claiming that President Obama was complicit too? Really?
2
Netanyahu knows that if he’s ever going to annex the West Bank, the time to do it is when you have a useful idiot in the White House who won’t think through the long term international consequences, and let you do anything.
25
The last few time Netanyahu was in such a pre-election tizzy he lied and cajoled voters to support his party.
He always managed to squeak through.
He will again build a coalition.
It would be so nice if he lost but it ain't gonna happen.
2
I cannot imagine that even Trump will applaud the idea of annexation. Certainly the professionals at the State Department (if any remain) will advise against accepting Netanyahu's proposal.
Or is this part of Jared's peace plan?
4
@Jonathan Of course the American rightwing will be thoroughly tempted to continue to follow Netanyahu; there is nothing the rightwing loves more than a good solid land grab. Why? Because they do not believe in the meaning and usefulness of laws. Power is the only God of the rightwing nationalists.
Short term: they win. But over a bit of time, this will change.
3
India had a Gandhi, South Africa had a Mandela, US has Dr King. Palestinians need a moral leader to show the world that they cannot be subservient and be 2nd class citizens in their own country and win the freedom that they deserve. Until then let’s spend our tax dollars at home
10
@Sri Sambamurthy
“Theirown country”? No. The Levant is not ‘Arab Land’ now, and never was....
Yet, thanks to the British, Arabs managed to walk away with the biggest piece of the ‘Palestine’ pie...now called Jordan...the defacto ‘Arab Palestinian’ state, occupying almost 80% of the former province aka ‘Palestine’.
As for Israel, the Arab Conquest of the Levant ended centuries ago and it’s not coming back. Time for the Muslim world and their western cheerleaders to come to terms with that reality.
14
@Shenoa Are you going to give any real estate you own back to the First Nations people from whom it was wrenched?
3
@gschultens
Wars have consequences. Perhaps the Arabs should have considered the possibility of LOSING before they chose to wage them.
9
It is a shame that this dark side of Israel has emerged. In its early years it showed promise of following a higher morality than most countries. But since the early 1980s when Israel carried out excessive bombing of Lebanon it has been largely downhill. Now it is reaching the depths of Donald Trump territory. Netanyahu has aligned with a racist right wing party. There is talk of annexing the West Bank but not of then giving Palestinian full rights as citizens. And within Israel Palestinians who are Israeli citizens have lost rights. We seemed to have reached the point where it has become clear to the Israelis that there is no good solution to the situation so now there is just a power grab based on might makes right, Trump's view of the the world. As a liberal democracy US should not support Israeli annexation of the West Bank. The US should continue to search for a solution even if the right wingers in Israel have given up and are simply going to rely on force and perhaps what some advocate, ethnic cleansing to establish a Jewish state in all of Palestine. Things are getting ugly in the Middle East and we may not have yet seen the worst.
30
Of course Trump has unwavering support of Netanyahu. This is not a departure of his established approach to domestic and foreign diplomacy. Support the white instigator and lay blame on the non-white victim. By and large I detest the identity politics propagated by the various factions of the left. But if the actor is faithful to the script....
4
Time to put away the non practical solutions of one state or two states. A real solution here has to transcend the current way of thinking.
A tripartite Confederation between Israel, Palestine, and Jordan is likely the most logical and fair solution. Some Principles are the following:
Jerusalem is the capital city of the Confederation, much as Washington DC is the capital city of the US.
No transfer of population. Jewish settlers in Palestine can remain in the status of Israeli citizens and permanent residents of Palestine. (They can vote in local Israeli elections, but not in Palestinian elections).
Each Confederation resident will declare which part he is s citizen of. Palestinians living in Israel can choose to be citizens of Palestine and permanent residents of Israel, as in the above principle.
Israel will retain it's Jewish character and Palestine and Jordan their Arab character.
Jews free to live in Jordan if they choose.
Negotiated return of Palestinian refugees to the Confederation (including Israel) under the above principles.
Please read about this common sense and fair solution at:
www.ipconfederation.org
www.alandforall.org
2
@bdfreund
Total nonstarter.
That, or more pie in the sky.
1
If Israel elects to do this then they’ll forever surrender their right to play the victim card ever again.
31
@Alan
Of course you are correct, but that won't stop the Israelis from playing the "victim card" over and over again.
9
Of course Bibi wants to annex the West Bank. The Israeli suburbanites need their lebensraum. I wonder what his solution for the Palestinians is? We know it's not two states, Israeli citizenship, or even full equality with Israelis.
33
@catfriend
Did it ever occur to you that Netanyahu does not want Israel to bear responsibility for the millions of Palestinians who live in the West Bank?
If he wanted to annex the WB, he would have acted bby now.
4
@catfriend, thanks, I learned a new word. And thank the Times for their instant app that does it. There’s hardly any shortage of space in the region for Esau’s clan thanks to us and Assad clearing so much of it with our bombs.
1
The fate of the settlements is on the ballot the article says. We support Israel because it is a democracy with an educated citizenry like our own, surrounded by a bunch of Arab crazy states. Arab states don't debate issues and decide them at the polls. Whatever autocrat leads those states at any moment in time keeps his people totally under his thumb and blames Israel for their misfortunes. We should continue to firmly support Israel .
6
Only if Israel is mindful of international law and doesn’t adopt a policy of “might makes right” by wrongfully seizing land they’re not entitled to.
12
@Alan I might agree if the Arabs were trustworthy. They have been trying to destroy the entire State of Israel since its inception. Their policy is "might makes right" and they back it up with things like the Hamas Charter which still has language supporting the destruction of Israel. Iran and Hezbollah seem to exist only to destroy Israel. You can't deal with them. So I got no qualms about what whatever the Israelis do to secure their future.
6
@Alan international law, certainly as it existed in 1967, did not prohibit the victim of an aggressive war from retaining some or all of the lands it seized in fending off attack. As matters stand, Israel has already relinquished over 90% of those lands.
It is not at all clear that this rule has changed to become more aggressor-friendly in the manner you suggest, but one tends to hear that repeated today.
6
Don't know what a winning Likud party would do. However, some necessary coalition parties, like the ultra orthodox, would likely oppose open annexation because it creates unnecessary anger around the globe.
As to the nonsense of apartheid/annexation results in either giving all Palestinians residing there the vote, or Israel is no longer a democracy- explain this intelligently. If a new block of residents/immigrants is suddenly thrust into your population, they first have to learn to become citizens. It's a process, as it is in ALL western countries. They are entitled to legal residency, but not automatic citizenship. Some will eventually qualify, if they have no background in terrorist activity or membership in such a group. Others will not make it for years, some never. That is how things work.
Would all you complainers say that if a new immigrant/resident to the U.S. is not given the immediate right to vote/citizenship without proving he understands the Constitution, and swears he will be a law abiding citizen first, does that make the US an apartheid country? Read up on how difficult it is to become a citizen of Switzerland. Are they guilty of apartheidism? Be honest, or you will be called out as anti-Israel only fakers.
5
@Rosalie Lieberman
West Bank Palestinians didn't go to Israel to live. Israel came to them, seized control of the territory and have subjected it now to apartheid-like conditions with Jewish outsiders being brought in with special legal standing.
This occurred after Zionism attacked and effectively ethnically cleansed the area within what is now considered the Green line.
Israel has no interest in Palestinians becoming law-abiding so that they can be citizens. Israel is only interested in ensuring that sufficient numbers of non-Jews never become citizens.
8
@Rob. Sure, "Israel came to them" but you left out the why. Jordan had attacked Israel believing Nasser’s false claim that his army was overwhelming the Israelis. Israel repelled the Jordanians and the vaunted Arab Legion fled across the Jordan River. It seems a pretty important omission on your part, don’t you think.
5
@Rob
What about the part of eastern Prussia, now Poland since the end of WWII? Guess what, Rob, most of the ethnic Germans were exiled, or voluntarily left, in 1945. I met one here in Chicago, claimed she had no resentment to the Polish neighbors she left behind.
You skirt the "apartheid" claim by avoiding factual backup. They are now under occupation, not living under apartheid. To live under apartheid means you have no separate government, which Palestinians do have, and nobody to represent you. They have, but it's the majority's fault for tolerating the PA which does nothing to work on a peace agreement. Because it means C-O-M-P-R-O-M-I-S-E.
Don' think that will come easy for Israel, even if there would be 10,000 NATO troops stationed for 10 years to enforce a peace deal. It would also require an int'l effort to eradicate the rabid anti-Jewish culture. Without that, they will still continue to preach violent hatred and promote terrorism.
Is that what you believe in? Not a word about the grave sins of the Palestinians.
1
Israel has been imposing military rule over millions of Palestinians who have no citizenship rights for more than a half century. Israel’s leaders have kept up the pretense that the occupation is only temporary and that some Palestinian state-like entity might emerge at some unknown time in the future after an interminable negotiation process in which Israel holds all cards.
If Netanyahu annexes the territories, it will make crystal clear what the reality has been for a long time. Rights are assigned based on residents’ ancestry and religion. We all know what that was called in South Africa. If annexation speeds the day that Israel is pressured to join the 21st century and give equal rights to all, even the ethnically challenged, so be it.
36
@David Samel. Since the Oslo Accords, some 95% of Palestinian Arabs have been ruled by the PA or Hamas not by Israel. So the underlying premise of your comment is wrong.
Of course, nothing prevented the Arabs from creating a civil society following the lead of the Jewish Agency during the Mandate period. They didn’t.
During the 19 year illegal Jordanian occupation, not only did the Palestinian Arabs not try to create their own government and seek a State of their own but in 1964, acting through the PLO, they formally relinquished all sovereign claims to the lands they now claim to have been theirs since forever.
Today, the best they are able to do is create two versions of a kleptocratic dictatorship. It’s very sad, but there is really nothing the West and Israel can do to help. It’s entirely an intra-Arab mess.
19
@Charlie in NY Your denial of the military occupation is mystifying. Israel controls whether Palestinians may travel, when they are arrested and when they are killed. Israel rules over millions of Palestinians who may not vote. That may be OK with you but just imagine if Jews were ruled over but kept out of the political process. That would bring us into agreement - we would both hate and oppose such a discriminatory system. I am consistent in my opposition to that in all cases, but you casually deny and/or tolerate that when imposed on Palestinians.
2
Netanyahu has said he will annex the settlements. That comprises 2% of Judea and Samaria. Besides there is already a Palestinian state. It is called Jordan. It is about time Israel annexes the settlements. I am waiting for a peace partner from the arabs of the territories. And I am going to be waiting a long time.
12
@nims Israel has an Arab partner. It's Saudi Arabia.
1
This is the time for us to acknowledge it and allow the non Jewish people to decide whether they are Israelis or moving out of the region. They can choose between Europe, Jordan or the Arabia region. Since all the Palestinians are refugees they will get residency in any country as long as they are loyal to its values.
4
Netanyahu is playing high-stakes poker for the election, but to win who: Israeli voters and his international audience of friends ??? And then there are his enemies both in Israel and internationally.
Remember his head is on the block with multiple charges against him which he cannot escape from.
If Netanyahu wins this election, I expect great turmoil and chaos in Middle Eastern politics … with great pressure to be exerted against Trump, his major ally and supporter. West Europe and other civilized countries will respond with revulsion. There would be great debates and requests for censure against Israel in the UN.
Israel must face the ultimate reality and implement a Two-State Solution with Palestinians. President Obama's formula of using the Green Line as a border with land-swaps for disputed parts of Jerusalem is the best workable solution.
92
@Gerry O'Brien
"West Europe and other civilized countries will respond with revulsion."
Ooooh, now there's something we should all be worried about!!
7
@Gerry O'Brien
Jews accepted the 1937 Peel Partition Plan, the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the Clinton Parameters & Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a 2-state peace plan. All of these were 2-state solutions.
8
@Gerry O'Brien - Trump has rejected the 2-State Solution because tge Palestinians have rejected it, as they refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist, and instead call them an occupation. All the land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip legally belongs to Israel currently, and the Palestinians are occupying it.
Israelis have every right to settle their own land, and Israel’s Government has a responsibility to protect it from those who are occupying the land but are not citizens.
What’s the issue that will upset everyone, exactly?
6
The question is: How long are the Arab countries in the region going to put up with this? Israel has totally dispossessed the Palestinians. I for one do not support this and would not support any US military involvement that will obviously be needed to save Israel from what is coming for them.
32
@Horatio
You kidding, Israel and Saudi Arabia are best friends now a days. And the Gulf States support this latest engagement.
8
Except that much of the Arab world is starting to cost up to Israel. UAE, Saudis, etc.
To Bad The Ottoman Empire Collapsed In 1917.
@das.east67
Yea, especially for the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians
3
So naive. Of course Netanyahu has this already in his pocket from Trump/Pompeo & can state it without fear that they will not support it. And, BTW, why do we learn about the disastrous floods in Iran only weeks after they began?
5
A time for war or a time for peace?
I am a strong supporter of Israel, but annexation is a terrible idea. If Israel wants to remain Jewish and democratic, it has no choice but to embrace a separate Palestinian state in the West Bank.
Netanyahu needs to go. His cynicism and selfishness are destroying Israel's future.
353
@Sparky
It’s over.
The West Bank will go to the Israelis.
Palestinians will go to Jordan. They’ll be Transjordanians.
The Saudis will bless the move.
The Turks will jump up and down helplessly protesting. Russia and Iran will collaborate to control Syria.
Lebanon will be the next battleground.
Oh vey
19
@New World -- That's the plan. It won't work. They won't go away. The festering problems will not go away either.
14
Exactly. Annex the West Bank. But then Palestinians have an absolute right to be equal Israeli citizens. And Israel becomes a multi-denominational secular state. Which in fact would be no bad thing.
But if Israel goes down the road of remaining a Jewish state with a helot class of Palestinians without civil rights. That is a recipe for global ostracization. Apartheid cannot work in the age of social media.
18
The one state solution has arrived in force. Netanyahu has given the green light to the right and settler movements to push for annexation, and it will not stop with settlements. When the current round of annexations takes a breath, the resulting map will look like small, isolated cantons for the Palestinians, and an ever growing "Greater Israel." As they will not give citizenship to Palestinians in occupied territory, thus continuing apartheid for these people, eventually the world community will pressure the Israelis to relent, giving full citizenship and rights to the Arab community in their midst, or Israel will endure a world wide boycott, and not just in the settlements. The sheer demographic force of the inclusion of the Palestinians into Israeli public life will guarantee the death of a Jewish state. Perhaps a multicultural Israel will be a better place for all, or will the old hatreds guarantee a long and vicious civil war?
10
@Stephen Holland
Sorry, but no. Israel will not grant citizenship to millions of Arab Palestinians under any circumstances. Boycott to your hearts delight, but Jews have been through far worse.
8
@Shenoa, so, what's the end game? You can't incorporate territory without it's residents...or, perhaps they have another idea, like expulsion? That should work out fine.
5
We don’t have to boycott. We don’t have to spend our tax dollars either supporting a regime which doesn’t give a hoot as to what we think and frankly in which we don’t have a strategic interest either. Let us spend our money wisely at home.
13
"Gewalt" means "power". Better than "Oy, Gewalt", is
"Oy, Weh". "Weh" means "pain".
Israel would have to recognize 2.5 million Palestinians as citizens, or run an Apartheid state. Either is a recipe for long term disaster.
8
Only when discussing Israel does anyone ever suggest that a multi-ethnic multi-faith democracy would be a disaster.
Well, actually, that's wrong. American white nationalists feel rather the same way.
23
@Douglas
It's weird that we as one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse countries in the world is the staunchest defender of a nation that is fighting to be the complete opposite of us
3
How are the 6 million Christian Muslim Arab Palestinian Israelis living under the dominion of 6.1 million Zionist Israeli Jews by occupation, blockade/siege, exile and 2nd class citizenship going to vote in the " Israel" eiection?
Outside of Israel, West Bank, Gaza,East Jerusalem and Golan Heights there are the Palestinians living in Jordan, Lebanon and throughout the Nakba worldwide diaspora whose right to vote should be recognized as well.
The two-state solution denies the right of return of Christians to their Holy Land. Either a three-state solution or a one-state solution are in accord with modern fairness, justice and morality.
The Jewish state could and should by every legal and moral right be carved out of the nations that perpetrated the Holocaust.
While the heirs of Abraham- Jews, Christians and Muslims- can return to their mutual ethnic sectarian home aka Ur, Sumer in the Fertile Crescent of modern Iraq.
What kind of omniscient and omnipotent God would promise the same land to three different people with exclusive and mutual scriptures and prophets?
8
@Blackmamba
By arguing that a Jewish state could and should be carved out of nations that perpetrated the Holocaust you fail to recognize that Jews have a valid claim to Israel. You are falsely perpetuating a lie that Jews are colonists when they had in fact been living on that land for hundreds of years.
8
@Deena
Yes, Zionists were colonists, you should read up on the history, the early Zionists were very honest about this. Herzl sought a colonial charter from the Ottomans. The Second Zionist Congress created the Jewish Colonial Trust of Palestine. Jabotinsky wrote approvingly about Zionist colonialism and what it would have to do to the indigenous inhabitants.
You see, Arabs born in Palestine were indigenous. European Jewish colonialists born in Europe were not.
6
@Rob
Jews have repeatedly been forced out of the land that is now Israel(plus West Bank etc). Each time they returned to be forced out again. The only reason Jews were living in Europe is because that was where they ended up in their latest journey to find a place to live. My maternal mitochondrial DNA traces back to a woman who lived in the Middle East 8,500 years ago. I'm not an ethnic Pole, Litvak, Ukranian etc. I know who I am and where my family is from.
6
The Promised Land has many recipients depending upon the multitude of promises made throughout religious history. As a result, conflict will always exist because promises will be broken in-perpetuity!
2
If M. Abbas made similar noises about plans to annex much of pre-1967 Israel to a future Palestinian state, we'd have congressional resolutions condemning him in no time, and the IDF would kill a bunch of people to "send a message". (Still, he'd ultimately be allowed to stay in whatever power he has - being too valuable to Israel in his role of keeping the West Bank under control. But publicly, he would be condemned.) Let's see what happens when Netanyahu does it. My money is on congressional action against critics of Israel.
18
I love Israel. Have lived there for a number of years. It does in fact protect Jews all over the world. BUT. this is sheer lunacy. I hope the electorate comes to its senses and votes Netanyahu out. He will destroy the country.
66
It may already be too late. For Israel and the U.S. Democracy cannot survive in right wing authoritarian governments. It's a certainty that Israel will tacitly forfeit it's democracy in exchange for a single state with not even a illusion of democracy. Sad.
18
>>> "It does in fact protect Jews all over the world."
No, it does not, unless you mean that the right of return for Jews is protective. Other than that, the increasingly outrageous behavior of the Israeli state is actually leading to increased antisemitism which ends up targeting "Jews all over the world."
29
Antisemitism existed long before the establishment of the State of Israel and has absolutely nothing to do with its policies. At its most basic level, the West Bank was seized in a defense of war. Should Israel give it back? Most certainly. But it is in fact the State of Israel, with the ability to defend itself, that has punctured the image of the defenseless Jew. Should Israel disappear tomorrow, anti-Semitism would no doubt continue to rear its ugly head possibly in a form much putrid and violent than it is today.
3
Split the baby. Give the settled areas to Israel and the rest to the existing Palestinian state, ie, Jordan. Most Jordanians are Palestinians. It is only the Hashemite monarchy that makes Jordan not a straight majority Palestinian state. I am sure the terrorists of the PLO will find a way to deal with that.
4
@QED. The PLO already tried, back in 1970. Their failed attempt is referred to as Black September, during which King Hussein killed more PalestInian Arabs than Israel ever has.
2
If Israel annexes West Bank the nearly 3 million Arabs living there will for all intents and purposes become Israeli citizens and Israel will be a Jewish Moslem country.A losing situation for Netanyahu.
3
@richard addleman
There is no promise of the 3 million Arabs living in the West Bank gaining citizenship. There's a world of difference between a constitutional right and the vague assumption a "for all intents and purposes" Palestiniams will ever have equal rights.
4
Finally the real Jared Kushner peace plan/process comes out.
1) Reward Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel.
2) Reward sovereign title of Golan Heights to Israel.
3) Reward sovereign title to West Bank to Israel.
This is the real Trump administration peace initiative.
What to the Palestinians get? zippo.
Maybe Rep Omar has a point.
306
@Peter
This is not just about losses to Palestinians; there are Christians and Muslims in the mix. More than half a century has gone by where all governments understood Jerusalem would always be an international city.
Israel is making very poor Karma for itself.
42
@Peter
you missed other parts of the "Deal of the Century"
4) the Saudi MBS (alias "the butcher") get US protection at the UN and nuclear technology for financing the plan
5) the Trump-Kushner real estate conglomerate gets bailed out of serious debts
6) the Trumps and Kushners get valuable real estate to develop in Tel Aviv and Riyadh.
7) the US gets yet another ME war.
27
@Peter
Next one to come out of JK's peace plan, before Nov 2020:
4) Bomb Iran and make it another "stateless" country like Iraq, Libya & Syria (almost). Perfect Roadmap to "Greater Israel"
1
Netanyahu is under indictment for bribery and fraud. He is fanning the flames of bigotry, violence and hate.
No wonder Republican love him
He is terrible for Israel, and supporting him is terrible for Israel. He is terrible for peace. He is terrible for the world. Saying so is not "anti-Semitic" it is just truth. People who are good for Israel are good for Jews everywhere, and Bibi is not it.
145
@John
For Americans to be called anti-Semitic for voicing opposition to criminal, authoritarian Netanyahu is the height of hypocrisy. Americans have always joined together in opposition of oppressive governments. We should make no exception of Israel under right wing governance.
51
@TJ
It is not the American people who support the injustice in Palestine ,it is the AIPAC-controlled Congress & WH. eg.
1/ In 2009 when Israel invaded Gaza & killed 1400 people of which 2/3 were women & children , 334 members of Congress signed a letter to Obama to "Go Easy On Israel" while the 192 members of the UN General Assembly voted 93% to condemn & sanction Israel for this same atrocity.
2/ It was NOT the Am. people that voted to donate $4 billion/yr to Israel ( $133 billion) or to create a special US tax loophole for gifts to Israeli "charities" that build illegal settlements.
3/ On July 18 2014 the US Senate voted to support Israeli actions in Gaza in which 2200 Gazans were killed , vetoed a UN investigation & released a cache of US munitions to the IDF to continue Mowing The Grass in Gaza.
4/ A 2014 NYT`s article quoted B.Baird a Dem. congressman: “The difficult reality is this: in order to get elected to Congress, if you’re not independently wealthy, you have to raise a lot of money & you learn pretty quickly that, if AIPAC is on your side, you can do that.” It also quoted J. Yarmuth, a congressman from Kentucky, on upholding the interests of the United States: “We all took an oath of office & AIPAC is asking us to ignore it.”
AIPAC has twice been rated as the most feared lobby in DC by the staffs of members of Congress.
The US must change its election campaign funding laws so that foreign lobby (AIPAC) can no longer game the system & control Congress.
2
Why am I feeling I should root for Iran?
52
What are you rooting for Iran to accomplish?
6
@JeffPutterman. Cause maybe if we had a better relationship with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel wouldn't take US support for granted?
As we sit peacefully before of Sunday edition of the NYT, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump are playing a frightening game that could throw the world back into a crisis, the like of which has not been seen for more than 70 years. The only excuses I can see are power and politics. Both Mr. N and Mr. T have plenty of money and power... what is the point, other than madness?
20
@AJ
Control. For out of control egos.
6
Someone else has probably said it but annexation has three possible outcomes: apartheid (which some would argue is already happening), full citizenship for the Palestinians at some point (Zabotinsky will be turning in his grave, or civil war (for which there is some precedent in Mandatory Palestine).
14
Bibi, just take the West Bank if you can.
Saudi Arabia has your back, rest assured.
4
As hopeless as it seems that the Palestinians will ever be able to restrain or police the violent forces within their population, and allow real negotiations, any move to annex the settlements in the West Bank will put an end to a future Palestinian state and inch Israel closer to apartheid. Taking this drastic, unnecessary step, is one more instance of Netanyahu's naked cynicism, in service of power and nothing more. As a lifelong supporter of Israel, this strikes me as terribly, self destructive idea.
177
@Michael The settlements are slow-motion annexation, they just are speeding it up for the election.
33
@Michael -- "Allow real negotiations" seems to mean total surrender and departure, concession of every dream Israel can conceive.
That isn't negotiation.
It also isn't likely to happen.
The result is likely to become the sort of force that would put Israel below Rhodesia's old place in the world. That was a place in which the US was its last defender too, and South Africa's as well. It didn't save them.
8
@Michael
When does a lifelong supporter of Israel become a former supporter of Israel?
How much does it take?
I was raised on fervent Zionism. I find myself giving up on Israel.
23
Bibi is Trump’s buddy that should help him. Two crooks supporting each other. Why not?
61
Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,
As an American who for the last 50 years has prepared for bed by saying a prayer for America and Israel, please allow me to extend my very best wishes to you on your reelection.
According to what I read in the newspapers, you and the President have a close relationship and have reached some understandings regarding the next steps to be taken in attempting to secure a final peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Prime Ministers of Israel -- an endangered country if there ever was one; and Jews around the world -- an endangered people if there ever was one -- have little choice but to seek the support and approval of American Presidents.
This is all to the good, but it is also has me worried.
A friendly real estate magnate, snake-oil salesman and reality TV star who achieved his Presidency by non-stop lying to the American people is hardly a man who can be trusted.
One has to assume that much the same treatment he has accorded to the American people is now lying-in wait for you and the people of Israel.
Please act accordingly and cunningly.
With great admiration and best thanks for your devoted efforts on behalf of Israel and America.,
Stanton
5
... on your soon-to-be-reelection.
5
West Bank annexation has been a foregone conclusion by anyone not wearing blinders for the last ten years. Of course long term Israeli plans have always been to NEVER allow the West Bank to become either prosperous, independent, or sovereign. It's right there, there is no power to stop Israel lording over it, it's been sending in settlers nonstop for so many years you'd have to be brain dead to see this as a surprise. Ok it's surprise Netanyahu has to pull this rabbit out of his hat at this moment in time.
This sort of violation of every standard of decency can only happen because for decades American media has enabled the Israelis to act like the kid's of the richest man in town, able to take any girl, break any law, wreck any car, insult any teacher, and get off Scot free cuz Dad knows all the judges and cops.
My recent posts offering the idea that American troops belong in the West Bank and Gaza to protect the Palestinians has never been more relevant. What we are watching is an outrage and if what goes around comes back around, does not bode well for the so called, "only democracy in the Mideast."
145
@CK. It would also help if the Palestinian Authority would actually stand for elections (it's been a dozen years) and agree to accept a two state solution-- at least, in principle.
Their failure to do so allows cynical, deeply dishonest leaders like Netanyahu the ability to stay in office.
11
And 30 billion dollars in military aid for the those same ten years and much longer. Plus a big increase in 2016 to build government buildings needed in Jerusalem now that they own it.
4
@CK
The Palestinians can't even put together a basic..functioning government. They seem to be utterly lost and without any direction...for decades. They need to be usurped into Jordan or another Arab country, for their own good.
14
A Greater Israel - it was always the plan and the western "liberal" media knew it while pretending to be interested in "peace talks".
11
@Dominick Eustace. And the right wing media sat silent?
3
The right wing media have never much pretended to be interested in peace talks and seldom express concern over Israeli atrocities.
The "liberals," as Dominick suggests, *have* pretended.
5
The future of the West Bank is as much on the ballot in the upcoming Israel election as the future of Obamacare and a border wall with Mexico were on the ballot in the 2016 US election, i.e. not really. Politicians make promises to get elected. As Trump has learned the hard way, carrying them out is another story.
4
I hope they vote Netanyahu out! He is not good for Israel...You will never have peace with him. He has been there way too long. Fresh start of Israel...it will never happen with him.
35
@Rich - Yes rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, very good will do yessir!
7
Other newspapers reported that Netanyahu wanted to extend Israeli sovereignty over some settlements, not the whole West Bank, at least not immediately. Even the former would create numerous unconnected "Zulustans," realizing a truly apartheid one state solution.
Many Israelis find the term "Occupied Territories," to be offensive just as Sheldon Adelson did, when candidate Chris Christy used it. I think that the Israelis were satisfied with the status quo but do not realize that the status quo cannot endure. Now they are going a step farther in alienating many Israeli supporters but not the Evangelicals whom POTUS is courting.
35
@Arthur. Sometimes, upon reading about divisions between elements of the Orthodox community and the rest of Israeli society, I wonder if many are satisfied with the status quo with regard to the Palestinians because the Palestinian problem helps keep Israeli society together.
You would think that after more than 70 years of waiting for a State of their own, Palestinian leaders and their supporters would now be urgently pressing for the final implementation of the 1948 U.N. Partition Plan recognizing Israel and a Palestinian State, if for no other reason than better late than never.
But -- for as long as they are still violently opposing and refusing to accept a Jewish Israel -- they will never get around to it.
And therein lies the nub of their problem.
23
@A. Stanton
You are choosing to wait for approval that IMHO gets you nowhere anyhow. Sometimes it's bull, horns and that's all you can do.
1
@A. Stanton. Nonsense. No justification for annexation and then not giving the Arabs who live there citizenship. What do you call that? Selective democracy?
13
@A. Stanton
the unconditional humiliating surrender after the first WW created Hitler and the second WW.
The Confederates in the US still fly their flag and honor their heroes and have not forgotten.
The Palestinians will never forget either, not for centuries to come.
5
Netanyahu isn't much of a leader, is he.
7
"He has been widely expected, if the election result gives him the chance, to try to form a governing coalition that would enact retroactive legislation preventing a sitting prime minister from being prosecuted."
Can't be prosecuted?
If nothing else, this TRUMPIAN dictatorial action should be opposed by all in the next election.
26
@Pat
Fascism is a highly marketable social behavior.
16
@Pat
Hmm. Has a familiar ring to it. Welcome to MAGA///
1
Abba Eban - "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" . They've perfected this diplomatic approach over the last several decades. I imagine many Palestinians would prefer peace and prosperity over the reversal of Israel's creation. I would hope they pursue such a path before its too late which is becoming increasingly unlikely.
11
@Mike Brown: So, your comment on a story reporting on Netanyahu's intention of extending sovereignty over the West Bank is to complain that the Palestinians are missing an opportunity?
There's a reason that many of us who were strong supporters of Israel for many decades have been revising our views in recent times -- and it ain't antisemitism or Jewish self-hatred.
18
@Mike Brown
Building more settlements keeping up a very brutal occupation, to put it mildly, is not likely to build trust and confidence in the goodwill of the Israelis. They know, Israel wants it all and without Palestinians.
6
I have some advice for the Israeli people. When you go to cast your very important and precious vote, do Not listen to any advise Trump has to offer as he is NOT a staunch supporter of Israel; except of course when Israel can be of benefit towards enriching his family's fortune. And more importantly, do NOT take any of his promises seriously as they could change in the blink of an eye.
15
Good for Bibi. Gaza taught the Israelis a lesson. Never let the West bank fall into the hands of extremist Arabs. Israel has no choice but to keep the West bank under its control if they want to survive as a nation. The Palestinian "leadership" is run by a bunch of vain and corrupt stooges for Iran who would rather see their people starve than live a prosperous life in an Israeli state like the million or so Arabs who already do.
17
@JAB
Gaza taught the Palestinians a lesson. Never let the West bank fall into the hands of extremist Israelis. Palestine has no choice but to keep the West bank under its control if they want to survive as a nation. The Israeli "leadership" is run by a bunch of vain and corrupt stooges who would rather see their people live a prosperous life in an Israeli state unlike the million or so Arabs who do not.
There. Now it's balanced.
24
@JAB
I think you might be a bit confused. You do know that Netanyahu if fighting criminal charges as we speak...He's corrupt to the bone marrow and no surprise he and trump find common ground.
6
@JAB
considering Israeli policy and the treatment of the Palestinian people we must know the Israelis hate the Palestinian people. While the Palestinians barely survive the Israelis face no consequences of the wars. Their life goes on as if nothing happened in Gaza and the WB. The settlers have military weapons while the Palestinians have stones.
6
The man is shameless much like his good friend Trump. Anything to divide and create fear. Israel election could be a precursor to the U.S. 2020 election.
23
When will people learn that the wars, the killing and hating will only stop when all people have their own home? The Israelis wanted and needed a safe place, their own home.They got that home by displacing others. But they have it. That land, and more, has been theirs for over 70 years. How can anyone believe that peace and safety will ever come as more and more people are displaced and made homeless, stateless and hating those who push them out of their own homes. These people who have nothing and so nothing to lose, turn their hate into what we call terrorism as they try to get back what they see as theirs.
404
@Sarah re
“That land, and more, has been theirs for over 70 years.”
Let me fix that for you:
“That land, and more, has been theirs for over 5,000 years.”
The state of Israel was established by a United Nations vote. It is therefore one of the most legitimate nations on earth. Most of the others, like the US, really are the result of displacing (or murdering) others.
Israel should return to those UN boundaries, if and only if their neighbors promise permanent peace and the end of their efforts to destroy Israel.
27
@Sarah
That land has been theirs for 70 years, not 5000.
To say that they still own the land is like saying the Native
American Indians still have claim to the land stolen by the USA.
In theory, Yes, but in actuality No.
Perhaps Charlie B would like to turn over his property if what he believes is true?
49
@Charlie B 5000 years? I hope you see the flaw in your argument. You forgot the Bronze Age !
18
This outrageous declaration is an act of raw contempt for the American people who essentially bankroll Israel's control of the Palestinian people. In return we get the hatred of 1.5 billion Muslims and a recipe for ceaseless warfare, hatred and political catastrophes and failures--to say nothing of what this sort of thing is doing to the moral repute of the millions of American Jews and Christians who blindly support Israel, no matter what she does. This sort of thing will not last forever.
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@David A. Lee I'd add that ceaseless warfare equals arms sales, which trump and company seem to think will carry the economy for the next 10 years.
22
@David A. Lee. To suggest that the "hatred of 1.5 billion Muslims" is solely due to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is ridiculous.
12
@David A. Lee I agree wholeheartedly. The West Bank is not worth a pint of blood of even one Canadian grenadier.
6
Why not just acknowledge that Israel has won and Palestinians have lost?
5
@Tuco
It would be politically incorrect to do so.
5
@Tuco
For the same reason that the world community didn't just say that apartheid had won in South Africa, formidable as it was.
28
@Tuco Israel won, and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria lost. The Palestinians are the civilian population that were caught behind enemy lines.
And I should also point out that your "logic" such as it was was also used in the 1940's to justify German atrocities.
6
How on earth is the corrupt clown even running for office again? When he loses he can take a long vacation at Mar a Lagoon.
7
Trump's son-in-law probably supports Bibi's plan.
16
@Jean
Of course he does! They make no secret of it. that's why Jared was placed in charge of "mid east peace." What a joke. Jared's father was also a long time supporter of Israel.
2
It's absolutely crucial for peace that the centrist group win the election. And the West Bank has been relatively peaceful towards Israel.
5
All democracies need term limits to avoid fascist tendencies, but at the same time, Israelis, both Jews and Arabs, are correct to assume that the status quo is better than a Syria-like disintegration or Gaza-like dictatorship, I wish for a centrist win replacing Netanyahu!
3
PM Netanyahu has made a career out of making promises, and this one seems aimed at strengthening his hand in post-election coalition negotiations. Should he win, Netanuyahu will have very good reasons to want to include "hardliners" in his new government.
Specifically, it is important to keep in mind that President Trump has done a great deal for Netanyahu. Mr. Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, his move of the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv, and his recent proclamation about Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights must be making Netanyahu somewhat nervous, leaving him wondering "what is it that the US is now going to ask of me and Israel?"
In this regard, Netanyahu is almost certainly wary of US intentions with respect to its long-awaited "peace plan." I strongly suspect that his his reference to annexation of existing West Bank settlements is aimed either at deterring the United States from issuing its plan, or at allowing him to claim, once a new government is formed (should he be re-elected), that his hands are tied because of opposition within his cabinet to ceding West Bank territory on which existing settlements are situated, should the US plan call for same.
3
@Frank J Haydn
There is no Trump/Kushner plan! This is another ruse. The truth is that annexation has been the plan for quite some time now. It is just a matter getting a sufficient US political consensus to agree to stay quiet about it.
The Palestinians will be concentrated in a half dozen city-states, totally dependent on Israel. They will not be given Israeli citizenship nor will they have a state of their own. They will be very much like the old South African “homelands”. Many will object to the comparison, but the goals of Israel cannot be met without this kind of policy, what ever lipstick is put on it.
73
@Jazz Paw
Irrespective of the existence of a US plan, your depiction of the Palestinians as bystanders is precisely what they, the Palestinians, are banking on to secure their "victimization narrative." If the Palestinians wanted a state, they could have had it by now. They do not want a state, and never did. Way too much responsibility.
6
@Frank J Haydn Trump and company wants to increase their organization's (Trump and the kids) fortune by building some very large hotels and maybe a few golf courses.
4
On the eve of his last election, Netanyahu similarly declared that no Palestinian state would emerge under his watch. Although he later tried to walk that back, it is clear that he indeed has no intention of giving the Palestinians independence or of even stopping taking their land.
There should be no 'clarification' indulged to the Prime Minister for his new declaration. Bibi has no plans of negotiating and he is making designs on another peoples that should never be accepted in the 21st century.
46
@NM To be fair, it's not like the Likud Party has ever been shy about its intentions towards what they call "Greater Israel". The American press doesn't talk about that very much, though, because to do so is to risk being branded as anti-Semitic.
7
@NM
What a pair he and Trump make. So similar in so many (unfortunate) ways...
2
@Dave
Annexation is not / not and never was part of the Likud's approach to the West Bank. Pick up a history book.
1
Why is America so concerned about Israel?
Canada is on our Northern border, but there is not this much American press coverage of their elections.
What's the meaning of this?
1
@Uptown Guy
Plenty of us care because do not want Israel's far right agenda enacted in our name, and are sick of hearing that a nation with a reactionary platform is our ally and a model of democracy.
112
@Uptown Guy Because careless U.S. support of Israel's reckless policies might drag us into a Middle Eastern war.
25
@Uptown Guy
Canada does not have control of the US government.
9
With no say at all for the Palestinians. Sad.
40
@John Fitzpatrick
Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are allowed to vote. If they did, en masse, they'd have a decisive impact on these elections.
5
@Frank J Haydn
Thanks for that information.
1
@Frank J Haydn
No Israeli Palestinian voters are allowed to live on the W. Bank. Lots of Israeli voters do, however.
1
Bibi wants Palestinians to pay the price for his own problems.
9
@NM
So do all the Arab leaders. The Palestinians prefer victimization over bold, courageous steps to change their destiny.
3
It reminds me of that line in Blazing Saddles:
'This is the last act of a Desperate Man"
41
@Gdnrbob And the response seems relevant: "I don't care if it's the last act of Henry V."
2