Theater of the Absurd

Encouraged on its course of non-compliance, Israel has announced the construction of new houses in Gilo — a provocation that will go unpunished. The same old spiral of violence and reprisals will continue.

The tension had been building for months. What would happen if the Palestinians went ahead with plans to petition the United Nations for recognition as a nation? Despite massive pressure, President Abbas went ahead with that plan — and nothing happened. The dossier will languish in the Security Council until the United States vetoes the request. After a lengthy silence, the Quartet of the Middle East was finally able to put together a short position paper recommending that the parties return to the negotiating table and refrain from taking any “provocative actions.” Not a single mention of any parameters for the negotiations.

And so Israel, encouraged to continue on its course of non-compliance, merrily announces the construction of new housing units in Gilo on occupied Palestinian land in East Jerusalem. It is pointless to argue whether Gilo is one of the settlements that Israel will get to keep in the event an agreement is someday reached. It is clearly a provocation designed as a confidence-building measure to benefit Prime Minister Netanyahu. Netanyahu called what the United Nations was doing a “theater of the absurd,” but the rest of the world sees it differently. But then, the rest of the world isn’t in possession of “the truth” that Netanyahu claimed to have in his speech.

As usual, Israel’s closest ally, the United States, is “concerned” about Israel’s unilateral action. Decoded, that means the Middle East Quartet’s recommendation is dead and buried. The next thing that will follow in this infamous spiral will be violence. That means Netanyahu’s government still appears to be alive. There’s hardly any hope. It’s unrealistic that President Obama, instead of allowing Israel to lead him around by the nose, would suddenly decline to veto the Palestinian measure at the Security Council. But even that would probably be insufficient to cause Netanyahu, enlightened by “the truth,” to reconsider. The real political tsunami is the social protest currently going through Israel. If it ever raises its eyes above the level of economic issues, it may well cause movement in the Israeli position.