What did Bibi actually say?

What did Bibi actually say?



By David Verveer



First of all, I need to confess, every time I hear or see Benjamin Netanyahu he increases my hatred for anything he says or does, and what he represents.

In my opinion he is an opportunist, who with his famous half sentences, and statements which can be interpreted in all directions, keeps a bunch of extremists from right and left together in a coalition with a peculiar pattern of political parties, whose ideals are far apart and only entered this government in order to receive their political spoils handed out by politicians in power.



Last week, it was announced that Bibi will give a speech in the rightist lion den (the University of Bar Ilan) that will decide the future of the Israel / Arab world, and will be a suitable reply to the lecture given by Obama at the Caro University two weeks ago. What he was going to say was kept secret, and unlike the usual development of political speeches, this time nothing leaked out, and the entire world was in anticipation on what Israelis oracle was going to announce. I have an uneasy feeling that even Bibi did not know what he was going to say, and how he could sail between the obstacles and vetoes of his coalition partners, including his own party.



To be fair to Bibi, he had no choice after Obama ordered him to recognize the Palestinians right for independence and self government and to start containing the settlers' expansion on the West Bank. The only thing he could do, in order to survive politically, was to build up statements that can be translated in favor of claims from all directions, (the Americans, The settlers, the far right, the religious parties and the Likud).



I can understand the total frustration of the Palestinians when he announced that he was ready to enter negotiations without previous conditions, provided:

A – the Palestinians agree that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people,

B – The new Palestinian state will be without army or open borders with the surrounding countries,

C – There will be no right of return for the Palestinian refugees,

D – The settlements will stay and will be allowed to grow due to their natural growth, a privilege which normal citizens don’t have living inside the borders of the country, and Israeli Arabs won't ever get, as the government will not give them the necessary building permits.

E - last but not least, Jerusalem will not be divided and will remain the capital of Israel for ever (including the 300.000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem).



In actual fact, Bibi is prepared to give the Palestinians a type of mini Bantustans (self government of internal affairs, the solution of the Apartheid Government of South Africa). But don't make a mistake, this is not what he is proposing to the Palestinians, they will need to make also some concessions, or else Bibi won't participate in the negotiations without pre-conditions.



If my forefathers would not have optioned for leaving occupied Roman Palestine for trading opportunities elsewhere, and would have stayed put, with the result of forced conversion to the Islam, we would now have to lose the last straw of hope for independence, taken away by the peace loving Bibi, who tell the Palestinians that if they do not like his proposals, they can lump it.