It is very alarming for any hope of peace in the Middle East that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks set to win this week’s elections and have another term. His coalition partners may change, but his right wing Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu coalition will continue to dominate the government.
The danger is that Netanyahu is a master at turning everyone’s attention in one direction — while actually focusing on what he really wants, when no one is watching. He has used this election to exaggerate the dangers of Iran’s nuclear programme, playing on the fears that Iran is bent on building a nuclear bomb that can one day target the Jewish state. He has worked hard to create this fear in Washington and then try and ruthlessly capitalise on it to further his vision of Israel’s security. However, while he has been talking of Iran and acting as though Iranian missiles were about to rain down on Israel, followed by Iranian troops pouring into Israel, he has used this distraction to get on with what really concerns him — which is permanent occupation of Palestine, preferably without the Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s government is quietly annexing the West Bank and seeking to end any hope of an equitable peace with the Palestinians. He has been increasing the Israeli “security” areas, driving out Palestinians from yet more land and building more and more colony homes in the West Bank. His government has focused on trying to make the two-state solution totally unworkable, by manufacturing so many facts on the ground that future Israeli governments will not be able to undo.
Netanyahu has deliberately masked his plans with lies. When he took office in 2009, he made a major speech, declaring that he was ready to accept a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state, ending years of opposition to such a move at a personal and party level. This nonsensical pledge allowed him to hold the Americans at bay for some time and get on with reinforcing the Israeli security apparatus in the West Bank.
Netanyahu does not care about Iran. He cares about building a Greater Israel.
