Israeli Left Must Stop Waiting For Its 'De Gaulle'
Israeli’s public apathy to negotiations shows its inability to connect the Iranian nuclear threat to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and the country wasting its resources in “a futile war.”
It is hard to blame the Israeli public if a decadeslong “peace process” has left it apathetic and even cynical about some new round of talks with the Palestinians. It is not too hard to understand why people are more focused on the humdrum annoyances of day-to-day life than on what some newspaper commentator has to say about the long-term damage that the settlement enterprise is causing to Israel’s status internationally. Nevertheless, the gaping yawns provoked by reports about the serious implications of the failure of US Secretary of State John Kerry's initiative are both surprising and worrying. On July 31, I claimed on this very website that Kerry will inform US President Barack Obama next spring that the positions taken by Israel’s right-wing government have hindered any chance to reach a peace arrangement with the Palestinians. By then, Israel is likely to have lost its monopoly on nuclear weapons in the Middle East — according to foreign sources. I also noted that within nine months, “in the spring of 2014, the clouds may open up, offering a convenient opportunity for American or Israeli jets to fly over Iranian airspace.”
About a week ago, Channel 10’s military correspondent Alon Ben David noted the relationship between the current negotiations with the Palestinians and the nuclear threat. In an article that appeared in Haaretz on Aug. 7, Ben David wrote, “The American message to Netanyahu, even if not stated quite so starkly, is this: Sometime in the summer of 2014, Iran will activate its heavy-water reactor in Arak, which can provide it with plutonium for a nuclear bomb. From that moment, the plant cannot be attacked without risking a Chernobyl-like environmental disaster. If the Israelis want backing for an attack on Iran in the summer of 2014, they have to clear the table of the Palestinian issue.” The veteran commentator went on to assess that turning on the Arak reactor would create an irreversible situation in which Iran has nuclear capabilities.
Two days later, Amos Harel, military correspondent for Haaretz, pointed out how the timetable for the peace talks corresponded with the last possible date for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
So what happened to Israeli public opinion after all of that? Nothing. Nada. A poll taken by the “Brain Trust” Institute, which was published in Maariv on Aug. 16 found that 53% of (Jewish) Israelis today would not vote for any agreement that includes a withdrawal from the West Bank, even if the Palestinians would recognize Israel as a Jewish state and give up the right of return. The poll also found that there is no real cause for panic among the settlers because of an increase — noted last year in a poll conducted by the same institute for Ariel University — of Israelis living within the Green Line, who describe themselves as “center” or “left” (from 43% to 52%). It actually turned out that many of the Israelis who describe themselves as “centrist” actually hold right-wing positions.
