And the Walls Come Tumbling Down: Israeli PM Netanyahu on Notice from both Left and Right
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http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/tumbling-israeli-netanyahu.html
And the Walls Come Tumbling Down: Israeli PM Netanyahu on Notice from both Left and Right
By contributors | Jun. 11, 2014
By Carlyn Meyer
If there was any doubt about which side came out stronger from the failed Kerry peace initiative, it’s been put to rest by events since. Neither side wanted to be the first to disrupt the talks and be blamed for their demise. Once Netanyahu reneged on releasing the last contingent of Palestinian prisoners, under an agreement he made with Senator Kerry as incentive for Palestinian participation, Abbass fought tit-for-tat. First, he filed petitions for recognition with fifteen new international agencies. When Bibi called foul and still refused to hand over the prisoners, Abbas announced an agreement between Fatah and Hamas to reconcile.
Prime Minister Netanyahu should have known something was up. PM Netanyahu surely recognized trouble for Israel after a “senior US negotiator” (later revealed to be Martin Indyk) gave an interview to popular Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea that ran in Israel’s largest Hebrew-language daily. In it he said:
“There are a lot of reasons for the peace effort’s failure, but people in Israel shouldn’t ignore the bitter truth – the primary sabotage came from the settlements. The Palestinians don’t believe that Israel really intends to let them found a state when, at the same time, it is building settlements on the territory meant for that state. We’re talking about the announcement of 14,000 housing units, no less. Only now, after talks blew up, did we learn that this is also about expropriating land on a large scale. That does not reconcile with the agreement.”
In quick succession, chief Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni held an unauthorized meeting in London with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas; the US and most of the world announced it would deal with a new technocratic government in Palestine so long as it adhered to Quartet principles; and yesterday Finance Minister Yair Lapid gave PM Netanyahu a six month deadline to make peace with the Palestinians and to stop building outside the near-Jerusalem settlements..
