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Netanyahu leads Israel into deeper isolation, democratic uprising laps inside and outside borders - FT


Great article in the Financial Times yesterday (access to the FT is free for a month, registration may be required) and you may need to register
Anyone who saw Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the American Congress can be forgiven their fatalism. Israel’s prime minister will never negotiate seriously with the Palestinians. As a former Israeli diplomat said of Mr Netanyahu’s speech: “Everything is changing, but he is determined that everything remains the same.”

This time the world is unlikely to wait. Events are leaving Israel behind. The Arab uprisings are remaking the geopolitics of the Middle East. The Palestinians will seek international affirmation of their statehood when the United Nations General Assembly convenes in September...

...The democratic wave is lapping against Israel’s borders. The old order had it that Arab tyrants could be beaten on the battlefield, or squared, or sometimes both. It’s harder to suppress a democratic awakening. The nightmare for Mr Netanyahu is a peaceful uprising joined, as it was briefly last month, by protesters from Syria and Jordan. How will Israel respond if Palestinians borrow the tactics of Tahrir Square? The days are gone when tear gas was an answer.

Mr Netanyahu has led Israel to international isolation. His fractured relationship with Mr Obama is mirrored by a rupture with Europe. Britain and France no longer conceal their frustration. Germany, for obvious reasons of history a stalwart ally, has lost all patience...

...Mr Netanyahu’s ambition in all this may extend no further than clinging to office. Another explanation would say he was never ready to contemplate a Palestinian state – a position inconveniently exposed by the rush of events.

Either way, Israel’s prime minister has put himself in the company of those Middle East leaders whose only vision is of the past. He has one or two allies in the effort to turn back the tide of history. Syria and Saudi Arabia spring to mind. But is this the company that Israel – the region’s first democracy – really wants to keep? more

Comments

  1. How is it that even holding his fingers as he does in this photo, Booboo Notinyoohoo makes a mockery of the peace process?

    No need to answer this query.... just look at the eyes...

    ReplyDelete
  2. dont u think that whoever wrote this article, chose this picture, out of thousands, on purpose?
    in the picture he does something with his fingers and it could be for any number of reasons, which u or i dont even know. silly to regard the picture, as its some kind of propaganda by the publisher...

    ReplyDelete

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