It seemed like an impossible task. With his highly anticipated programmatic speech, Israel's Premier Benjamin Netanyahu was attempting to square the circle: On the one hand, he had to mollify his country's most important ally, the United States. Washington had been growing increasingly impatient with Netanyahu's refusal to accept a two-state solution and his unwillingness to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank. On the other hand, he could not venture too much, lest he alienate his right-wing coalition partners and endanger a coalition that to some seemed fragile anyway. Examined within these parameters, Netanyahu's cautious speech seems to have been a success.
Some commentators in Israel have described it as a "historical breakthrough." For the first time, this right wing ideologue uttered the word "Palestinian State" and promised not to build new settlements. On the other hand, he still defended "natural growth," a murky term employed in the past to allow for almost unchecked settlement expansion.
His vision of "two free peoples, living side by side, where every one has their own flag and own government" is a concession that for many of his supporters will be hard to digest. Just four months ago they voted for him precisely because of his opposition to a two-state solution. Always careful to preserve his right-wing power base, Netanyahu tied his proclamation to the demand that any Palestinian state be demilitarized and permitted neither to sign military alliances with other states nor to control its own airspace. He tried to engage the international community by demanding security guarantees for Israel and safeguards at the future borders, to make sure that a Palestinian state would not become "a new base for terror.”
It is too early to tell whether these concessions will soften his hard-line image abroad and whether the West will keep up the pressure on Netanyahu. However, the Israeli Prime Minister clearly has opened the door to international diplomacy, even if his demands will be hard to meet.
On the other hand, reactions on the Palestinian side have been discouraging. Netanyahu has posed difficult conditions, but chief negotiator Saeb Erekat could not even acknowledge the slightest progress. On the contrary, Erekat declared that the Israeli Prime Minister’s words amounted to "sabotage" of peace negotiations just minutes after Netanyahu’s speech.
This is no surprise. For weeks Ramallah had confidently noted that international pressure is concentrated on Israel. The Palestinians only have to wait out Netanyahu's tenure, as president Abbas opined. US pressure would either lead to greater concessions or force him out of office. This position already had undermined negotiations with Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert. According to Erekat, Olmert had made a proposition that should have been hard to refuse, apparently offering the equivalent of 100 percent of the West Bank, the division of Jerusalem and an acceptable solution to the refugee problem. The Palestinians turned him down, ruling out any compromise on the "Haram," which is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. It could only belong to the Palestinians, Erekat said.
No Israeli premier will be able to go further than Olmert did. Netanyahu's speech has demonstrated that heavy diplomatic pressure on Israel can produce tangible results. It must therefore be kept up. But the same force must be applied to a smug Palestinian leadership that, believing time works in its favor, has not shown any willingness to compromise. And without mutual compromise, any attempt at peacemaking in the Middle East is bound to fail, as it has countless times before.
