Analysis: Israel's Netanyahu "Helpless" Against Right-Wing Protests?

Is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in trouble with the growing opposition to his "concessions" regarding the status of West Bank settlements, Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights?

On Wednesday, the Knesset voted in favour of continuing legislative work on the Golan Heights and Jerusalem Referendum Bill, by an overwhelming majority of 68 to 22, with one abstention. The bill requires that any withdrawal from east Jerusalem, the Golan, or another area under Israeli sovereignty would first have to go to a referendum.

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More than one-third of legislators from the "centrist" party Kadima supported the bill and the majority of Labor ministers were absent. Defense Minister and Labor member Ehud Barak, who was critical of the bill in debate, still voted in favour whereas the opposition Kadima leader Tzipi Livni voted against.

The first reaction came from Damascus, which was allegedly ready to start peace talks without any preconditions. Syrian sources told the BBC-Arabic radio station: "Israel has already annexed the Golan Heights after conquering the area and as far as we are concerned [the referendum law] makes no difference; every action that Israel would take in the Golan Heights is illegitimate. Israel cannot hold a referendum on land that it does not own."

In a sense, the Knesset vote is only holding the Netanyahu Government to account, given that it called Jerusalem the "undivided & eternal capital" of Israel; stated over and over that this settlement freeze is "one-time and temporary" and expressed the sentiment that "Israel would never withdraw from the Golan Heights". More than 10,000 right-wing protesters gathered on Wednesday in Paris Square in Jerusalem near the Prime Minister's residence to demonstrate against the temporary settlement freeze. And it appears that Netanyahu either heard them or sympathised with them all along. He stated that certain settlements outside of the large blocs in the West Bank would be considered "national priority areas" where settlers will receive benefits in education, employment, and other social provision.

Interpretation? Netanyahu is using the country's "political will", benefiting from the spectre of mass domestic protests to resist to the demands of the international community.

Comments

[Don Gotshalk]

I have been having a hard time finding the State of Isreal on my Globe. The last person I knew that actually saw the country said it was mostly sand and rocks. When I look at the Globe it seems there is more than enough sand and rocks for everybody in that part of the world. Why is there such a fuss over such a small amount of sand and rocks that a few million Jews surrownded be many hundreds of million Arabs call home. I would guess common sense has nothing to do with it? Maybe this President should do what Harry Truman once did a few years ago. Leave whats left of the jewish people after WW2 have a country in that most uninhabitable, god forsaken place, and carve out some other area for those who do not like it. It seems like every time this small group gets attached by all the billions around them they lose. Maybe somebody way up there is saying something? I know if I was an Isreali I would not give an inch. Through out the history of the Jewish people, that I have read, that appeasement has not worked out so well.

[Barry]

Don

A bit tongue in cheek (I guess) - but I tend to agree with you.

That entire area appears to me to be "god-forsaken" desert -- but it is "their" "god-forsaken desert", and any piece of it can only be owned by one at any given time.

It is interesting to understand how many pieces of history going back to at least WW1 have led us all to where we are now in this place ( "We" meaning humanity in general.) European Empires, leading to WW1, leading to WW2 , etc . I am not sure that the Ottoman Empire had even heard of a place called "Palestine" - though they must have called it something.

Basically, a never ending and insoluble tragedy

Barry