Tel Aviv - It took hardline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu two and a half months to say the magic words 'Palestinian
state.'
Summing up his first 100 days in office, which pass on Thursday,
Netanyahu earlier this week listed this as one of his main and first
accomplishments.
His June 14 speech at Bar Ilan University, near Tel Aviv, in which
he finally backed a - demilitarized - Palestinian state, had made
'the idea of 'two states for two peoples'' into a national consensus,
Netanyahu told his cabinet.
The speech outlining his policy on the peace process came after
nearly 11 weeks of intense international pressure, led by the US,
which had urged him to publicly endorse the two-state solution
while the new government took time to review its policies.
Israel's mainstream media, mostly left-of-centre, were
critical of Netanyahu's first 100 days, so much so that the premier
complained: 'I cannot say that they were 100 days of grace. I'm not
sure that we had even one day of grace.'
Critics charge that Netanyahu, who took office March 31 following
elections in which the right-wing bloc of parties headed by his Likud
won a majority of mandates, caused an unheard of crisis in Israel's
friendly relations with the United States, by initially refusing to
endorse the two-state solution - and then doing so out of pressure
rather than conviction.
A dispute with US President Barack Obama's administration over
Israel's insistence on continuing 'natural growth' construction in
existing West Bank settlements remains unsolved, although - Israeli -
reports of a nearing compromise have begun to emerge this week.
There are two possibilities. Either he caved into pressure and his
hesitation and lingering sparked an 'unnecessary clash' with the US,
as a commentator for the biggest-selling Yediot Ahronot daily wrote.
Or, in a smart manoeuvre, he is trying to present a commitment to
Palestinian statehood - first underscored 16 years ago by
late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin of the left-to-centre
Labour Party - as a new Israeli concession, in exchange for which he
expects gestures by the Palestinians and the international community.
This would fit in with what he terms his policy of 'reciprocity,'
as part of which he has vowed he expects 'concrete steps' from other
parties in exchange for any Israeli ones.
The same may be true for any temporary Israeli acquiescence to a
total settlement freeze.
Among others, Israel wants first steps by Arab states toward a
normalization of ties.
While 100 days is still early in the game, so far he has not
achieved such gestures from Arab states. From their point of view,
why should they reward a hardline Israeli government with concessions
even before a peace treaty, or before meaningful progress toward one,
that they were not asked to make to previous governments who embraced
the two-state solution from the outset? Netanyahu, however, does
appear to have garnered the support of the US on this issue.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu, 59, is also facing some internal pressure,
although his critics charge he or his associates are deliberately
exaggerating this.
Some 20 of the 27 Likud lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset,
Israel's parliament, are said to oppose a Palestinian state, while
some 15 are said to object to a total settlement freeze.
Likud hawks over the week-end sent a letter to their premier,
urging him not to accept a total settlement freeze and rejecting out
of hand a Palestinian state. About half the party's lawmakers signed
the letter, Israel's Channel 2 television reported Sunday, prompting
some local media to speak of an emerging Likud 'rebellion.'
But Netanyahu is highly public opinion savvy. Before he finalized
his Bar Ilan speech, he commissioned internal surveys - as he often
does - which confirmed that its outline enjoys a wide consensus among
the Israeli public.
His decisions, however, are often guided not only by the general
public opinion in Israel, but also by that among his centre-to-right
electorate.
By accepting the two-state solution, albeit with conditions, he
has effectively taken the wind from the sails of Kadima, neutralizing
the centrist opposition party.
Netanyahu has listed as another accomplishment the complex
composition of a bi-annual budget, already passed by his government
and which he hopes to pass in the Knesset next week. But not without
an unharmed reputation: He was slammed for backtracking at the last
minute on an - already highly criticized in itself - decision to levy
value-added tax on fruit and vegetables, needed to help meet
Israel's large deficit.
His die-hard critics called the cancellation, decided after
ordering another survey, an illustration of his 'zig-zag' policy, his
'populist' governing method and his tendency to surrender to
pressure, this time by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
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