A Dismal Horizon

The vice president of the United States, Joseph Biden, arrived in Tel Aviv last week with the intent of implementing a new approach in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, but he was received by Netanyahu’s government with an announcement of new settlement projects: 112 in the West Bank and 1,600 in East Jerusalem. The trip became the beginning of a new series of peace talks that could open the doors to a solution for the two states, a step that Washington considers necessary to consolidate its most relevant goal in the zone, the detainment of the nuclear regime in Iran. In doing this, it hopes to avoid tensions with Israel and resist the occurrence of military attacks. Although Netanyahu apologized for the timing of this announcement, he declined to retract the project. He forced Biden, in his last speech at the university, to stress that these new Israeli settlements could threaten American soldiers in Iraq and possibly trigger a bloody conflict in an already volatile region.

Obama’s promise, outlined explicitly in Cairo, was to collaborate with the Palestinians in achieving their desire to have their own state, which Netanyahu later accepted due to inevitable complications. On the Israeli side, the executive stance of the current prime minister includes extreme reluctance in granting even the slightest concession to the Palestinians, in the fear that it may actually be the ultranationalist party led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is of Russian origin, and Shas, who chairs the ultraorthodox group of Eli Yishai, the minister of the interior who first broke the ice in speaking about settlements in East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the Palestinians remain divided between Hamas terrorists, who rule Gaza, and weakening Fatah, which maintains no electoral legitimacy and still governs the West Bank.

“The demographic realities make it increasingly difficult for Israel to. . .remain a democratic country,” said Biden in his speech, citing the urgency in solidifying the two separate states. But any negotiation can only begin the ceasing of settlements. Really, one must interpret the policies of Netanyahu as an open provocation toward Obama’s plans for the region, which could very well sink, opening the doors to a dismal horizon.