Israeli elections ended this month with a double victory for Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: his party won 35 seats, five more than in
the 2015 election, and his right-wing camp as a whole won 65 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
The religious right lost seven seats by
failing to achieve 3.25 percent of all valid votes, which means that
the practical power of the right is greater than the election results.
Their strength within Jewish society represents an overwhelming and
stable majority.
These results are a clear indicator of the extreme right’s domination of
Israeli society. It sends the message that the Israeli political
sector, and the public in general, are incapable of achieving the
necessary maturity for a political settlement of any sort.
Internal Palestinian division
This is not about highlighting the elections, but about raising an issue
of utmost gravity: Israel’s political community has not only shut the
door to the possibility of finding a solution to the Palestinian
conflict, but it is also moving towards unilateral measures to end it.
The first of such steps will be annexing at least part of the West
Bank.
Any real internal change within Israel will not happen without a
movement on two fronts: Palestinian pressure, by activating a real
popular struggle against the occupation; and international pressure,
through crowds invested in the moral power of the Palestinian struggle
for freedom against the longest-lasting occupation in the world.
In parallel, there must be real work to end internal Palestinian
division. Netanyahu considers the preservation and entrenchment of this
division to be a cornerstone of his quest to marginalise the Palestinian
cause and the national movement. Likud leaders have repeatedly
expressed their happiness over the continuing division; this, in itself,
should be enough of a catalyst to swiftly bring the division to an end.
Israel aims to crush Palestinian aspirations, as seen through the catastrophic nation-state law.
The response cannot merely be to end the division between Hamas and
Fatah, and between Gaza and the West Bank; it must involve a movement
encompassing all Palestinians - inside Israel, the West Bank and Gaza,
and in the diaspora.
If Netanyahu wants to bring the conflict back to square one - a conflict
over existence - then the Arab and Palestinian response must come under
the framework of the inalienable and legitimate historical rights of
the entire Palestinian people, and their popular united struggle.
The Al Capone of the Middle East
After his landslide victory, Netanyahu is setting out to protect his
throne from the three cases of corruption that could ultimately result
in his imprisonment.
Yet, these offences are quite lightweight in comparison with the major
crimes he has committed against Palestinians, as his regime oversaw the
massacre of thousands of Palestinians in the 2014 Gaza war and the Great
March of Return rallies over the past year.
What kind of democracy gives a medal to those who kill thousands, while punishing them over gifts of champagne and cigars?
The Israeli system is based on mob mentality, whereby he who kills and
destroys gains respect, but he who touches the gang’s money, or violates
internal rules, is punished. In this way, the hypocrisy and deception
of Israel as a “state of democratic law” becomes evident.
What kind of democracy gives a medal to those who kill thousands, while punishing them over gifts of champagne and cigars?
While the Israeli judicial system allows Netanyahu to commit war crimes,
it chases the prime minister relentlessly over alleged corruption. Many
assumed the corruption cases would weaken Netanyahu, but the results
have been the opposite.
He has not ruled out enacting the so-called French Law, which would protect him from indictment during his tenure.
A fait accompli
Netanyahu has reportedly demanded
that his coalition members commit to remaining in the government in the
event of him being presented with a final indictment, and even if he is
put on trial. In return, he has promised to accept their demands, the
first of which is annexation.
The prime minister made a surprise announcement days before the vote, noting that he intends to propose a law to annex West Bank settlements to Israel.
In 2017, his ally from the United Right Party, Bezalel Smotrich, proposed the so-called "Decision Plan",
which lays out a way for Israel to officially annex Palestinian
territory and to coerce the population to relinquish national
aspirations or be expelled.
Netanyahu appears convinced that domestic and international political
conditions are favourable to the annexation of the West Bank, which
successive Israeli governments have refrained from doing since 1967.
He is attempting to exploit both unfettered US support and his “good
relations” with several Arab countries as he moves to impose this fait
accompli, legally and politically.
Internally, Netanyahu seems to be comfortable; he has ensured the
support of his coalition parties on the one hand, and the weakness of
the opposition on the other. Knowing that the largest opposition group
is a party of generals who support annexation has only put his mind more
at ease.
The Israeli prime minister will not embark on annexing parts of the West
Bank without at least tacit US support. Arab support will come in the
form of mere verbal rejections, similar to those made when the US recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
International pressure
Netanyahu, who at 69 is now serving his fifth term in office, tested the
waters with Arab countries when the US recognised Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel last year. He is certain that the Arabs would not bat
an eyelid if he annexed part or all of the West Bank.
There is no basis for the excuse of lacking resources - if the Arab
world finds the will, it can prevent annexation and at least preserve
the status quo.
In light of the destruction of the two-state solution and the
vilification of the Palestinian leadership as an obstruction to peace,
Israelis no longer believe in the possibility of reaching a political
settlement. The issue of annexation is no longer rejected as it was
previously. It is now a central demand within a broad circle of the
ruling extreme right wing.
Netanyahu is speeding towards a fundamental change, through annexing chunks of land to Israel
In the last few years, the Knesset has passed a series of laws described
as “creeping annexation laws”. The Settlement Regularization Law gives
legitimacy to the confiscation of private Palestinian land to build
settlements, while legislation has also been passed to hamper Palestinian administrative petitions against Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.
Netanyahu has gone further than gradual creeping annexation: He is
speeding towards a fundamental change, through annexing chunks of land
to Israel.
In the era of Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, this is possible -
but it can be prevented with a Palestinian, Arab and international
movement and pressure.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
