Netanyahu: Wrong for peace

Benjamin Netanyahu, current Likud party leader, former Israeli PM and finance minister, is interviewed in today’s FT.  With the topsy-turvy nature of Israeli politics, it’s somewhat possible that Netanyahu could end up in the PM’s chair once again, particularly if PM-to be Tzipi Livni crashes and burns in her first year.

Netanyahu has always been a hard-liner.  But given current geo-political realities since former PM and former hardliner Ariel Sharon’s stunning about-face just prior to his debilitating stroke, there is hope that any Israeli PM would move toward the “two state solution“.  And if geo-politics isn’t enough, just look at the demographics - if a solution isn’t found that establishes a secure Israel, Jews will soon become a minority in their own country.  Even some of the most hard-line Jewish-leaders call for a settlement based on this notion.

After reading this interview, it’s disturbingly clear that Netanyahu has no intention of being a reasonable interlocutor.  He says he’ll sit down and talk, but he doesn’t sound like he’s in the (necessary) compromising mood:

What emerges is not what the Palestinians and almost the entire international community have in mind, which is a contiguous Palestinian state that floolws broadly the borders in place before the 1967 war and Israeli occupation.  Instead, Mr. Netanyahu wants to see the West Bank divided into a collection of disconnected economic zones with dedicated business projects. 

…

[P]arts of the West Bank, such as the Judean desert and the Jordan Valley, should not leave Israeli control: “These areas are very significant for us because they are our strategic security belt,” he says.

Mr. Netanyahu says he does not want to stop the current peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.  But he would shift the emphasis away from a comprehensive settlement aim at the creation of a Palestinian state towards practical steps designed to bolster living standards in the West Bank.”