Haaretz Daily Newspaper Latest update 02:02 14.12.10
By Akiva Eldar
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet colleagues are reminiscent of the families profiled on Alon Gal's series on Channel 2, who buy everything they can get their hands on in installments. At the end of the month, when the bank says they have defaulted and closes their accounts, they blame the rest of the world.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet colleagues are reminiscent of the families profiled on Alon Gal's series on Channel 2, who buy everything they can get their hands on in installments. At the end of the month, when the bank says they have defaulted and closes their accounts, they blame the rest of the world.
For the past year and a half, ever since his promising speech at Bar-Ilan University, Netanyahu's shopping basket has been bursting with American-made goodies: brand new fighter jets, an entry ticket into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a flak jacket against the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and a life preserver against the ripple effect of the flotilla incident.
Moreover, the police chief of the free world granted his client Netanyahu free parking in the West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements, after construction there had ostensibly been frozen for 10 months.
The prime minister was supposed to pay for all this by entering into serious talks with the Palestinians on the core issues of the conflict. Hard currency indeed; but Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Netanyahu's right-hand man, and the one who is supposed to represent the left in the government, convinced everyone that Bibi wouldn't leave without paying.
Payment time came during the spring. Over the course of the proximity talks, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas deposited with U.S. envoy George Mitchell a detailed proposal on permanent borders and security arrangements in the territories.
Netanyahu invented excuses about political liquidity difficulties and obtained more and more arrangements by which he could pay in installments.
When the time came to renew the moratorium at the end of September, U.S. President Barack Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Netanyahu with a bargain package: a squadron of F-35 fighter planes and a commitment to veto proposals made in international forums for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
All this in return for a public Israeli commitment to a three-month moratorium on construction in West Bank settlements and to avoid provocations in East Jerusalem.
After such a tempting deal failed to pass in the cabinet, the Americans finally concluded that Netanyahu was merely leading them by the nose. But they're not certain whether Barak knowingly sold them a pig in a poke, or whether he too (like President Shimon Peres ) believed the prime minister really had changed.
When Clinton recently invited Kadima leader Tzipi Livni to a private meeting, this signified an unofficial announcement that Netanyahu's account in Washington has been closed.
Clinton's speech, in which she demanded that Netanyahu once and for all declare where he proposes the border should run between the two states about which he spoke at Bar-Ilan, was a public declaration of the revolution in the relations between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations.
The American policy makers have come to the conclusion that the current government and a permanent status agreement are oxymorons.
As such, they are no longer interested in hearing Netanyahu's and Barak's excuses about "coalition problems." There go the installments, discounts and bargains.
In American eyes, the resignation of the right-wing partners, Kadima joining the government and even early elections, have become necessary steps toward achieving an agreement between Israel and the Arabs.
Twelve years ago, when Hillary Clinton's husband realized that Sara Netanyahu's husband had no intention of honoring his signature (on the Wye River Accord with Yasser Arafat ), that was Netanyahu's last stop before being sent back to his villa in Caesarea.
Rightradia stated prior to the US-Israel negotiations that working with Netanyahu was a fool's errand. Netanyahu is a hard line right wing Zionist who visited evangelical churches for years to whip up support for Israel. The US should help Tzipi Livni's Kadima party defeat the Likud in the upcoming elections.
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editor: Middle Class Warrior
By Akiva Eldar
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet colleagues are reminiscent of the families profiled on Alon Gal's series on Channel 2, who buy everything they can get their hands on in installments. At the end of the month, when the bank says they have defaulted and closes their accounts, they blame the rest of the world.
The Prime Minister of No
For the past year and a half, ever since his promising speech at Bar-Ilan University, Netanyahu's shopping basket has been bursting with American-made goodies: brand new fighter jets, an entry ticket into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a flak jacket against the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and a life preserver against the ripple effect of the flotilla incident.
Moreover, the police chief of the free world granted his client Netanyahu free parking in the West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements, after construction there had ostensibly been frozen for 10 months.
The prime minister was supposed to pay for all this by entering into serious talks with the Palestinians on the core issues of the conflict. Hard currency indeed; but Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Netanyahu's right-hand man, and the one who is supposed to represent the left in the government, convinced everyone that Bibi wouldn't leave without paying.
Payment time came during the spring. Over the course of the proximity talks, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas deposited with U.S. envoy George Mitchell a detailed proposal on permanent borders and security arrangements in the territories.
Netanyahu invented excuses about political liquidity difficulties and obtained more and more arrangements by which he could pay in installments.
When the time came to renew the moratorium at the end of September, U.S. President Barack Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Netanyahu with a bargain package: a squadron of F-35 fighter planes and a commitment to veto proposals made in international forums for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
All this in return for a public Israeli commitment to a three-month moratorium on construction in West Bank settlements and to avoid provocations in East Jerusalem.
After such a tempting deal failed to pass in the cabinet, the Americans finally concluded that Netanyahu was merely leading them by the nose. But they're not certain whether Barak knowingly sold them a pig in a poke, or whether he too (like President Shimon Peres ) believed the prime minister really had changed.
When Clinton recently invited Kadima leader Tzipi Livni to a private meeting, this signified an unofficial announcement that Netanyahu's account in Washington has been closed.
Clinton's speech, in which she demanded that Netanyahu once and for all declare where he proposes the border should run between the two states about which he spoke at Bar-Ilan, was a public declaration of the revolution in the relations between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations.
The American policy makers have come to the conclusion that the current government and a permanent status agreement are oxymorons.
As such, they are no longer interested in hearing Netanyahu's and Barak's excuses about "coalition problems." There go the installments, discounts and bargains.
In American eyes, the resignation of the right-wing partners, Kadima joining the government and even early elections, have become necessary steps toward achieving an agreement between Israel and the Arabs.
Twelve years ago, when Hillary Clinton's husband realized that Sara Netanyahu's husband had no intention of honoring his signature (on the Wye River Accord with Yasser Arafat ), that was Netanyahu's last stop before being sent back to his villa in Caesarea.
Rightradia stated prior to the US-Israel negotiations that working with Netanyahu was a fool's errand. Netanyahu is a hard line right wing Zionist who visited evangelical churches for years to whip up support for Israel. The US should help Tzipi Livni's Kadima party defeat the Likud in the upcoming elections.
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/UFPYA
Netcraft rank: 7373 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
Rightardia.blogspot.com
editor: Middle Class Warrior
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