Israel’s ‘ new perilous course’

The formation of the new Israeli Cabinet sends strong signals to Palestinians.

One of the messages is that no peace accord could ever be achieved with the Palestinians.

The expansion of settlements on Arab land will be accelerated since it has been one of the main items on every Likud Knesset candidate’s agenda.

Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been sworn in by a 61 to 59 vote, he has the full support of many opposition figures in his target of declaring Israel as a Jewish state, which will jeopardise the legal and existential status of 1.6 million Palestinians living there and forming 20 per cent of the total population.

The new ministers share with their prime minister a rejection of the Oslo Accords that generated, two decades ago, so many hopes that a framework for a peaceful existence could be established between Israelis and Palestinians.

The failure of the US initiative for a two-state solution will now make American Secretary of State John Kerry think twice before engaging Netanyahu or President Mahmoud Abbas into another round of negotiations.

It is doubtful that the new Israeli ministers will agree to give the Jerusalem Muslims their rights in the two holy mosques, since efforts are under way to surrender to the demands of ultra orthodox rabbis who insist on sharing time and space of Al Aqsa Mosque, using the excuse of rebuilding the third Temple of Solomon.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely defended Netanyahu’s choice to have her run the ministry, which he will formally head. Hotovely opposes a Palestinian state while Netanyahu had earlier admitted that he is against the concept of the two-state solution to the Palestinian territories occupied for 67 years this week.

The strongest message sent to the Palestinians is exactly what was inscribed on the main gate of Dante’s Inferno: “Leave all hope here.”

It is this Israeli political recipe that will change the younger generation of Arabs into time bombs, since there is no hope that the occupation army will withdraw to the 1967 lines.

The Palestinian fury will reach a boiling point when access to the holy mosques is denied. 

The daily humiliation of Muslim families by soldiers is bound to reach its accumulative breaking point, which will signify a new Intifada in both the West Bank and the Arab villages beyond the Green line of 1948.

It is saddening that Israel, which was built by the sacrifices of the Zionist Labour movement, now forges a new perilous course that shatters the hopes and aspirations of Yitzhak Rabin, King Hussein and Anwar Sadat, who had their vision for a happier generation in our region.