Gadi Taub
Netanyahu, you’re late
Op-ed: Instead of taking initiative, Bibi delivering speeches that were relevant decades ago
We can assume that the new balloon known as the “2nd Bar-Ilan speech” will be full of hot air, just like the first one. Netanyahu is only capable of engaging in battles of retreat. He knows how to react but not how to initiate. Indeed, the first Bar-Ilan speech came years late, and the sequel is not expected to be any different.
And so, we shall be dragged along with the Palestinian declaration of Independence in September directly into the “diplomatic tsunami” which our security affairs commentator, Ehud Barak, warned us about. The world will be recognizing the Palestinian state, and the Israeli occupation in Judea and Samaria will become impossible.
Next, we shall see the boycott and sanctions that will ultimately force us to pull out of the territories. However, it will only happen at the end of the day, after we lose all the diplomatic assets we could have gained along the way.
If instead of an ad-hoc response team we had a political leadership in Jerusalem, it would have recognized an opportunity here to partition the land – a clear Israeli interest – despite the Palestinian rejection of peace, while restoring our status and improving our diplomatic standing.
If we had a leadership, we would be preparing a diplomatic offensive at this time, instead of a bunker to hide in.
For example, we would have been rolling up our sleeves and seeking to ensure that the future Palestine exists within the 1967 borders, with desirable amendments via territorial tradeoffs. After all, some elements on the Palestinian side seek to leave the question of borders open and view the declaration of statehood as one step on the way to Israel’s elimination.
Israel must ensure that the borders be recognized, international, and final, thereby guaranteeing the existence of a Jewish democratic state within the Green Line for generations to come.
Israel’s Pavlovian reaction
Israel could have, had it taken the initiative, worked to remove the Palestinian demand known as the “right of return” from the international agenda (notably, international law offers no right of return for refugees.) The demand for refugee return is yet another element in the Palestinian discourse that undermines the partition principle, and in fact aspires for a Palestinian majority on both sides of the border.
As opposed to the propaganda surrounding the Palestinian documents leaked via WikiLeaks, at no time did the Palestinian leadership renounce the demand for a refugee return into Israel. At this time, we could have used the opportunity to take the sting out of this demand. We could have also obtained security arrangements with international guarantees.
We could have done all that if instead of our Pavlovian reaction to the Palestinian move we would have conditioned our recognition of Palestine and our cooperation in establishing it in practice on ensuring Israel’s basic interests.
However, instead of doing all that, Netanyahu – the man of yesterday – continues to talk about Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state as a condition for any Israeli departure from the bunker of refusal.
In and of itself, this demand is justified, just like it’s justified to demand that Israel recognize the state to be formed alongside it as the Palestinian nation-state. This means that Israel will not attempt to create a Jewish majority there via settlement activity, just like Netanyahu’s demand means that the Palestinians shall forgo the demand for refugee return.
However, Netanyahu, who delivered the first Bar-Ilan speech two decades late, is about to deliver the second Bar-Ilan speech a decade late. His demand may have had a point at the end of the Oslo era, when a peace agreement was still on the agenda. However, now what we have on the agenda is partition without peace, and presenting conditions for a peace deal is irrelevant.
Under the circumstances, Israel should demand the things it wants from the international community, not from the Palestinians. Netanyahu’s position will ultimately bring us to the point of a Palestinian declaration of independence, while we offer self-righteous screaming but lack any diplomatic assets.
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