The Low Bar for Peace in Israel
For those who have not completely lost faith in the chances for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, the last few days have proven rather confusing.
After months of having no top-level contacts, Israelis and Palestinians had planned a symbolic event. At the end of Passover, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad would visit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Fayyad, the plan went, would come bearing a letter from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The letter would restate the Palestinian demand that Israel cease all settlement activity as a pre-requisite for talks.
Nothing new, but a little movement. The bar could not go much lower.
But even that turned into a fiasco. Fayyad decided to stay away. The letter was delivered by a less noteworthy delegation.
Now, the Pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds al Arabi reports that Abbas is furious at Fayyad for refusing to raise the profile of the event. And the two are not speaking to each other.
Not only are Palestinians divided between Hamas and Fatah, in power respectively in Gaza and the West Bank, but even the West Bank government is cleaved.
This matters because an agreement between Israel and Palestinians requires the leaders on each side to speak convincingly for their people and to have strong support. Otherwise, they will be too afraid to make a deal, to make compromises. And even if they reach an agreement they will not have the political muscle to carry it to fruition.
Also confusing, and troubling, are the signals from Israel. The Israeli government decided to legalize three settler outposts, “formalizing” the communities that had stood in violation even of Israeli law in the West Bank. The decision is, to put it mildly, not a positive sign for peace.
On the other hand, Netanyahu made another interesting comment about his position regarding Palestinian statehood. Speaking to CNN he said, “I don’t want to govern the Palestinians. I don’t want them as subjects of Israel or as citizens of Israel. I want them to have their own independent state. But a demilitarized state.”
Netanyahu has declared many times his endorsement of a two-state solution. But only recently he has started giving concrete arguments for backing the idea, lending some evidence that the decision to throw his support for a Palestinian state was not just politically calculated and insincere.