Yesterday’s vague dismissal of the “land-swap” peace proposal by the Arab League apparently didn’t get Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nearly as far as he hoped toward quieting down the plan, and reports in the Israeli press now say Netanyahu is openly expressing concern to his aides the the US might be on board with the plan.
John Kerry touted the plan as a “big step forward,” which many thought initially was just the usual optimism of the US for anything related to the peace process, but now the fear among Netanyahu et al, who have been reluctant to engage in any peace talks that involve actual border discussions is that the US really does feel this way, and it’s going to be really ugly when Netanyahu has to more directly shoot it down.
“Netanyahu and his advisers believe it would have been better had this announcement not been made,” noted one source in Haaretz. The plan called for using the 1967 borders as a basis for peace, but with support for mutually acceptable land swaps therein, something the Arab League had previously not endorsed.
To make matters even more complicated for Netanyahu, he’s got Tzipi Livni, his Justice Minister that he promised would head the Israeli negotiations, taking off to the US to talk up the plan, which she has suggested she supports. With other members of Netanyahu’s coalition openly opposed to peace deals as a matter of religious principle (Naftali Bennett insisted that God wants Israel to keep the occupied territories in their entirety), this could set the stage for a major coalition crisis.
The last ditch effort to sabotage any deal before it gets off the ground would be an effort in Israel’s parliament to require any peace deal to be passed through a referendum before it is agreed to. In the past it has been suggested that the referendum requirement would essentially cripple their negotiating team, and polls showing broad ambivalence among Israeli voters about the peace process would mean the referendum would skew toward settlers hostile toward the idea.
Being the Israel prime minister or us president.., or the British or French is a messy things now a days.., isn't it Mr. Nonthetahanyo.
If Israelis vote down peace, then we'd finally be rid of them as allies. That would be a bigger plus than a peace deal itself.
If it comes to a referendum and it is voted down, rest assured it will be spun as a vote against a land swap…not against "peace." But in reality, the Israelis have been "voting down peace" for years. Every time they vote in people like Netanyahoo, Barak, and Lieberman, they vote against peace. And each time, the US Israeli-Firsters and the gullible follow along willingly. Expect nothing to change.
But it was a nice thought.
No Israelis of any stripe have ever wanted peace. This is another one of their "smoke and mirrors"
maneuvers that is over-used and frankly stupid. Their "god" is a real estate agent who works for
zionists wherever they live, the U.S. Europe, Papua New Guinea etc. This idea that they fear
what the US thinks of the Arab League proposal is hogwash. They really need to fear a
far greater threat; the entire Middle East and the rest of the more reasonable nations in the world.
Easy to solve. Land swaps have to be mutually agreed upon. Israel can choose to not agree to land swaps, so no deal. Or better yet, Israel will take the lead by making the Palestinians land swap offer that can't but refuse – thus making the Arabs to be the uncompromising bad guys.
"Israel" and "peace" are self-contradictory concepts. "Israel" by definition is a war against Palestine. Accepting peace for Israelis is the same thing as accepting the destruction of Israel, so it won't happen.
Israel is NOT now and has NEVER been an 'ally' of the US – ask the sailors who barely survived the deliberate attack by Israel upon the USS Liberty what they think of Israel as an 'ally'.
The are a leech that bleeds US of taxpayer money every year.
And their 'fifth column' of Zionist TRAITORS to the US such as AIPAC etc and the rest of the Israel-first TRAITORS in our own Congress should all be deported to Israel.