Faisal Abu Shahla

It is surely time for Netanyahu-haters - Gideon Sa'ar, Naftali Bennett and even Avigdor Liberman - to end their feuds with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by joining a national right-wing coalition Government - headed by Netanyahu - to advance Israel’s national interest in Judea and Samaria – with the backing of a comfortable parliamentary majority. Three elections held on April 9 2019, September 7, 2019 and March 2, 2020 failed to achieve this objective – principally because Liberman’s hatred of Netanyahu saw him choosing to enter Opposition on all three occasions – and Bennett's joining the Opposition once (and his once not passing the threshhold after splitting from the Jewish Home Party)- rather than joining Netanyahu’s Governments. The financial cost of holding four elections in 2 years is estimated to be $4.24 billion – a massive waste of money. This madness needs to end – as pundits ponder the possibility of a fifth election as the sun is still setting on the fourth – which at the time of writing does not appear to have given Netanyahu and his political allies the 61 votes needed to govern in their own right. Liberman and Bennett and Sa'ar– all leaders of right wing parties - with similar policies and politics to Netanyahu – need to pull their heads out of the sand and join a Netanyahu-led coalition to ensure no fifth election is going to happen. Israel’s failure to act on President Trump’s Deal of the Century which would have seen the extension of Israeli sovereignty in about 30% of Judea and Samaria allocated to Israel – was a missed opportunity whilst Trump was President. However Trump’s plan, with changes, still remains best the way forward – whether the Biden administration endorses it or not. Netanyahu, Liberman and Bennett and the parties they head have a common shared interest in seeing this extension of Israeli sovereignty happen. With the PLO having rejected Netanyahu’s offer of a demilitarised Arab State in Gaza, 70% of Judea and Samaria and additional areas of territory under Israeli sovereignty – the opportunity has now arisen for Israel to reserve this designated territory or part thereof for another Arab claimant – most likely Jordan. Netanyahu articulated the Jordan solution when he told the United Nations on 11 December 1984: “Clearly, in Eastern and Western Palestine, there are only two peoples, the Arabs and the Jews. Just as clearly, there are only two states in that area, Jordan and Israel. The Arab State of Jordan… does not allow a single Jew to live there… It also contains 4/5 of the territory originally allocated by this body’s predecessor, the League of Nations, for the Jewish National Home. The other State, Israel … contains less than 1/5 of the territory originally allocated to the Jews under the Mandate…. It cannot be said, therefore, that the Arabs of Palestine are lacking a state of their own. The demand for a second Palestinian Arab State in Western Palestine, and a 22nd Arab State in the world, is merely the latest attempt to push Israel back into the hopelessly vulnerable armistice lines of 1949.” Bennett’s opposition to an additional Arab State between Israel and Jordan was expressed in 2013: "There is not going to be a Palestinian state within the tiny land of Israel. It's just not going to happen. A Palestinian state would be a disaster for the next 200 years." Liberman’s support for a land-swap of Israeli Arab towns - including Umm al-Fahm - to a future Palestinian state - while Israel would keep major settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria - has been superseded by Trump’s proposals. Liberman and Bennett – and Sa'ar - and possibly some defectors from other political parties - need to bury their hatchets and join a Netanyahu-led Government to advance the Trump blueprint and Israel’s national interest. David Singer is an Australian lawyer who is active in Zionist community organizations in that country. He founded the "Jordan is Palestine" Committee in 1979. Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively by the author —is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog.com

Faisal Abu Shahla

News and updates about Faisal Abu Shahla

Has the Hamas-Fatah Unity Government Expired?