Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise that any peace agreement with the Palestinians would have to go through a public referendum before being finalized was intended to placate opponents of peace and save his coalition.
Instead, the promise has split the coalition the other way, with proponents of a peace deal seeing the move as effectively ruining the prospects of peace. Which of course was the whole point.
“When we go to war we don’t ask the people, and the same should hold for a peace arrangement,” noted Tzipi Livni, who would be in charge of negotiations. Livni has allies in the narrow coalition, notably the Yesh Atid Party, which could potentially force early elections.
The matter is complicated, as Israel doesn’t have an actual legal mechanism in place for a referendum right now, and the offer was clearly never meant to be taken up. The peace talks are, to quote other Israeli officials, only meant to last through September to keep the Palestinians from going to the UN General Assembly. Beyond that they don’t really matter for the current, heavily divided government.
THE TALKS ARE OFF!
There is Breaking News regarding Israeli Apartheid's rapidly approaching date at the ICC in Sept –
The Palestinians today just called off the talks with Israel because Netanyahu, Bennett and the rest of the Settler State have NO INTENTION on 1967 borders as the basis of talks
Now, in addition to the EU boycott of Israeli Apartheid, Apartheid will be confronted by trying to ineptly defend Apartheid at the ICC
This is great news – the Palestinians are holding the feet to fire and insisting Israel consent to 1967 borders as the basis for talks or 'no dice. This is a disaster for Israel –
Bennett (let alone Netanyahu) CANNOT back down from their fanatic messianic positions
Looks like this Israeli-Kerry albatross has crashed before was even able to lumber off the ground – WHEW! – for a minute we started to think the Israelis had gotten away with their usual scam to protect Apartheid for another year.
Now we see the Israelis heading into rapidly approaching next session in an incredibly disadvantageous position;
1- having REFUSED to negotiate with the Palestinians on the basis of 1967 borders
2- having the EU just start BOYCOTTING key elements of Israeli Apartheid
3- being stuck holding the bag on Apartheid way past it's expiration date
The PLO is making known that Israel was not accepting the pre-talks draft of a territorially contiguous Palestinian state on the basis of 1967 borders
See article at Haaretz:
There is no coalition nor there is any peace talks, is politics and it works like this, one for the other the other for that other one as a group they are happy until it comes to peace talks, question is such if government is a based on coalition then they must be united when the boss, in this case Netanyahoo, says something about PEACE and rest have to follow, yes, no!! Yes!?
Look: such political maneuvering been the tactic used by every israeli government since before and after Oslo accord, this time is no different.
Someday a sane, free society will require a referendum to go to war.