Israel’s prime minister, known for his rigid negotiating positions, has been sending signals that he is ready for significant compromises in a peace deal with the Palestinians — and that he accepts the narrative increasingly favoured by his opponents that says ending the West Bank occupation is essential for Israel itself.
While some of Benjamin Netanyahu’s political allies say he is serious, the Palestinians remain skeptical. This week’s visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry could show which way things can go.
In recent speeches, Netanyahu has stressed the importance of reaching a peace deal, saying it is essential to ensuring Israel’s long-term survival.
On Thursday, he made reference to Israel’s nightmare scenario in which the peace process breaks down, Palestinians drop their pursuit of an independent state and instead demand equal rights in a single, binational state compromising today’s Israel plus the West Bank and Gaza. Most experts believe that given the high Palestinian birthrate, such an Israel could not long survive as a country that is both democratic and somehow Jewish in character.
“It’s correct. We do not want a binational state,” Netanyahu said at a memorial ceremony for the Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl.
On the front page of the Haaretz daily, an anonymous Israeli Cabinet minister in Netanyahu’s Likud Party was quoted as saying Thursday that Netanyahu is prepared to withdraw from most of the West Bank and evacuate numerous Jewish settlement as part of a peace deal. The story became the focus of much discussion in Israel, widely taken as a trial balloon and an attempt to signal seriousness by the government.
Another Israeli Cabinet minister, Yaakov Peri, told the Army Radio station that Netanyahu “knows he will have to carry out a painful evacuation of a number of settlements” as part of any deal.
Netanyahu recently told the Washington Post that if Kerry were to pitch a tent to hold peace talks with the Palestinians, he would “stay in the tent and negotiate for as long as it takes to work out a solution of peace and security.”
Such pronouncements were once unthinkable for Netanyahu, who for years was the leader of Israel’s nationalist camp and an opponent of Palestinian independence.
That began to change after Netanyahu was elected four years ago and for the first time endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state.
Even so, peace efforts failed to get off the ground, in large part due to Palestinian suspicions toward Netanyahu.