Israeli PM overrules his defence minister, cancels plan for segregated buses in the West Bank

[King_David]

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called off a proposed plan to segregate Palestinians from Israelis on West Bank buses, overruling his own defence minister following a flurry of criticism in an attempt to avert the first crisis of his new government.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com//news/world/israel-middle-east/israeli-pm-overrules-his-defence-minister-cancels-plan-for-segregated-buses-in-the-west-bank

[King_David]

1. American Jews: Challenge Israel’s segregated bus lines

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.624717

[King_David]

2. Israel Cancels Project Barring Palestinians From Some Buses

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/world/middleeast/bus-palestinians-netanyahu-suspends-west-bank-settlements.html?referrer=

[Scootaloo]

3. he's chosen some fine friends, hasn't he?

[geek tragedy]

4. Curious that he didn't move to quash an explicitly apartheid program

until it embarrassed him in public, with the EU's top representative in town.

Rather awkward timing, that.

[oberliner]

5. Have you never heard of Netanyahu before this week?

Not sure why you would be curious - this is exactly the way he operates.

This is the most RW coalition in Israeli history - thankfully it has only a threadbare one-seat majority. Hopefully it will collapse in short order.

Not only did the Israeli left and middle speak out against this insane proposal, but so did some Likud members (including the PM).

A possible light at the end of the tunnel could be that their behavior will push Israeli politics to the left and we will get something like the swing we saw here in the US from the crazy right winger Bush-Cheney administration to the one that finally replaced them.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

7. Be careful what you wish for.

The drift of Israeli politics over the last decade or so has been steadily rightwards.

I think that when this coalition collapses, what follows may well be even further right.

That said, I think that may be a good thing, at least from one perspective - I think a Palestinian state is more likely (well, less unlikely) to come from a far-right Israeli government exhausting America's patience than from a near-right (which is the only alternative) one actually agreeing to it voluntarily.

Lunatics taking over the asylum even more comprehensively and putting more wind into the sails of the BDS movement is not a great thing to pin your hopes on, but it's the only game left in town. Israel is never going to choose two states over the status quo unless the status quo becomes much less attractive.

Edit: This posted twice, for some reason; one copy deleted.

[oberliner]

8. Completely wrong on all points

Israeli politics have not drifted steadily rightwards. In fact, the center-left was predicted by most to be the winners this time around. Some last minute campaign shenanigans from Netananyhu led to the surprising and depressing results.

This coalition will collapse soon and will be replaced one that is center-left. The far right will have marginalized itself for a very long time with its outlandish behavior that is now on full display for all to see.

A Palestinian state is much more likely to come into existence with a center left government place. In fact, had Rabin not been assassinated we would probably have already been at that point. Other center left governments also came very close to brokering such an agreement.

Most Israelis are not happy with the status quo and want a two-state solution. Many of them are fearful regarding Israel's security and not thrilled with the current Palestinian leadership (especially in Gaza), but the majority favors two-states and a reasonable Israeli government will be the best best to get there.