Netanyahu Appoints An Elephant Pilot To Negotiate With The Palestinians

by Dr. Aaron Lerner


These are days that put the integrity of Likud MKs to the test.

After all, as they breathlessly wait and hope to get a ministerial portfolio or at least the chairmanship of a high profile Knesset committee, the last thing that they want to do is annoy Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

And why jeopardize one's prospects, however slim, over something that may ultimately be of no consequence?

After all, if Ehud Olmert wasn't able to cut a deal with Mahmoud Abbas after offering to divide Jerusalem, pull out of almost all of the West Bank, compromise on the return of refugees to inside Israel, etc., then why expect anything to actually develop from Livni's negotiations with the Palestinians.

But it isn't so simple.

Livni did not agree to take responsibility for negotiations with the Palestinians in order to show the world that the Palestinians are to blame for the failure of the "peace process".  She made this move expecting to make history.

So while Binyamin Netanyahu may have set his standards and requirements for a deal with the Palestinians that simply cannot be genuinely attained, thus essentially conditioning agreement to a sovereign Palestinian state to elephants being able to fly, Ms. Livni can be expected to put together a team of first class Israeli elephant pilots with impressive credentials.

And it won't really matter so much what Mr. Netanyahu really thinks of the house of cards arrangements these people come up with.

Whatever schemes Livni's  elephant pilots cook up that Binyamin Netanyahu may object to putting on the table will find their way to the White House, 10 Downing Street and no doubt the pages of Haaretz.

And the pressure will be tremendous.

And the erosion of Israel's ability to argue its case profoundly weakened.

And all this without considering the possibility that the Palestinians have the sense to play this hand for everything its worth.

Until now Mahmoud Abbas has been adamantly opposed to an interim deal even if that meant having sovereignty.

How much finessing would it take for the Palestinian leadership to recast an interim deal as a gain rather than a concession?

After all, the Palestinians could argue that the UN General Assembly vote already established that the sovereign Palestinian state includes every square centimeter beyond the Green Line.  An interim deal doesn't forfeit Palestinian sovereignty, it just facilitates the first round of Israeli withdrawals.

I cannot predict what will happen in the coming days.



Dr. Aaron Lerner

Source: http://www.imra.org.il

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