The surprise electoral victory of Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud Party in Israel is a major obstacle for peace in the Middle East and has been met with dismay by the international community.
Mr Netanyahu was widely expected to lose this election but in the last few days of the campaign the Prime Minister shamefully backtracked on his commitment to the creation of a Palestinian State claiming it would threaten Israel’s security. By stating he would never allow Palestinian statehood as long as he remained head of the government, Mr Netanyahu discarded the basis of more than two decades of Middle East negotiations and created more uncertainty in an already very volatile region.
Mr Netanyahu also promised to build more illegal settlements in the West Bank – a major stumbling block to peace over the last few years – and embarked on a disgraceful anti-Arab scaremongering campaign telling voters that the planned massive turnout by Israeli Arabs in the election would have dire consequences for the country.
Unfortunately the strategy of playing on the fears of the electorate about the creation of a Palestinian State and the turnout of Israeli Arab voters worked and Likud won a relative majority of seats.
It now has the right to form the next government which it should easily manage to do; the right-wing parties in the Israeli Parliament are only four seats short of an overall majority and one of the two centre parties – which has10 seats – is widely expected to join a new coalition.
Mr Netanyahu’s victory now creates a huge dilemma for the international community – particularly the US and the EU – which has been committed to a two-State solution ever since the Oslo peace accords were signed in 1993.
A White House spokesman has already said the US is to “re-evaluate” its approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian dispute in the wake of Mr Netanyahu’s shocking U-turn. The EU should make a similar pronouncement. US President Barack Obama, who understandably has a frosty relationship with Mr Netanyahu, will have to decide soon how to take the Middle East peace process forward.
Will Washington, for example, continue to veto the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the UN Security Council, like it did last December?
The reason given then for the veto was that such a resolution would “more likely curtail useful negotiations than to bring them to a successful conclusion.” Now that Mr Netanyahu has rejected negotiations with the Palestinians and pledged to build more illegal settlements, another US veto on Palestinian statehood would be indefensible. Whatever changes Washington is contemplating, a major review of policy would certainly be in order.
True, Israel and the US are strong allies, but the Americans have the moral duty to push for the creation of a state for the Palestinians, who have suffered for far too long. As a huge provider of financial aid to Israel the US should use its clout to convince the Israeli government to recommit itself to a Palestinian State, which after all, is in Israel’s long-term security interest.
A number of international media reports said the US is seriously considering supporting a UN Security Council resolution calling for the resumption of talks to conclude a final peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
This would be an important first step but it is unlikely to force Israel to the negotiating table. Ultimately, however, Washington should seriously consider supporting a UN resolution calling for a Palestinian State.