Netanyahu’s Conditions an Insult to Palestine

18/06/09

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu laid out the conditions for the creation of a Palestinian state during a policy speech on Sunday [June 14].

The speech was immediately welcomed in some quarters. US press secretary Robert Gibbs stated that president Barack Obama “welcomes the important step forward in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech… He believes this solution can and must ensure both Israel’s security and the fulfilment of the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations for a viable state, and he welcomes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s endorsement of that goal.”

For a full understanding of Netanyahu’s “endorsement” of a Palestine state, though, we need to go beyond his use of the term and look at what such a state would entail in his vision. It is when we get into the detail that we see that what he really wants is the total surrender and subjugation of the Palestinian people.

Netanyahu declared that a Palestinian state must be completely unarmed, with no army of its own, no control over its own airspace and “effective security measures to prevent weapons smuggling into the territory”.

He also decreed that “the Palestinian refugee problem be solved outside Israel's borders”, stating clearly that there would be no right of return for the countless thousands of Palestinians who have been ethnically cleansed from their homes since the formation of the zionist state in 1948.

Jerusalem must also be recognised as “the united capital of Israel”, and Netanyahu stated more than once during the speech that Palestinians must “recognise Israel as the state of the Jewish people”. What this would mean for the Palestinian population living within the state of Israel was left unsaid.

In one of his more conciliatory moments, Netanyahu said that there would be no building of new settlements or expropriation of land for existing settlements, though he did not say that settlement expansion would be stopped: “There is a need to enable the residents to live normal lives, to allow mothers and fathers to raise their children like families elsewhere.”

One must wonder how serious Netanyahu is about peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Unsurprisingly, his list of preconditions met with complete rejection from across the Palestinian political spectrum.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said, “His racist speech and his policy on the ground – the extension of Jewish influence in Jerusalem, settlements in the West Bank and the siege in Gaza – proves he is lying about his desire for peace.”

Fatah chief negotiator Saed Erekat responded, “We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it… The peace process has been moving at the speed of a tortoise. Tonight, Netanyahu has flipped it over on its back.”

Independent MP Mustafa Barghouti said that Netanyahu “wants to substitute a Palestinian state for a ghetto with no sovereignty, with no control of its land, of its resources, of its passage, of its roads, of its airspace, of its borders.”

Netanyahu’s speech made no mention of the ongoing siege of Gaza, the entire region having been declared an “enemy entity” in 2007. It remains unknown how many people have died because of the siege, a situation that can only have been worsened by Israel’s methodical destruction of the area’s infrastructure in January.

Israel bans construction material from entering Gaza, and poverty and unemployment are rife, with the UN Relief and Works Agency stating that the amount of humanitarian aid being allowed in is “totally inadequate”.

With Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and within the zionist state rejecting outright Netanyahu’s impossible preconditions, it is worth considering for a moment that members of his own Likud party and of his coalition partners have criticised Netanyahu for going too far in his “concessions” to the Palestinian people.

Clearly, even the mention of a Palestinian state, worthless though it may be, is too much to handle for some in Israel who hold political power.