Israel - Warmongers in the Cabinet
Ahmed Hany
April 01, 2009
The new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could convince Labor party to join his government. His alliance with the extremist ultranationalist Lieberman and the more extremist religious fundamentalist Shas party will not live long. There is a conflict between Lieberman and the religious parties about the civil marriage. Shas leaders labeled the ultranationalist Lieberman as infidel.
Netanyahu is fundamentalist regardless of his recent media campaign to improve his image. He refuses the two states solution, refuses to withdraw from Golan and he wants a united Jewish Jerusalem as a capital for Israel. Then, he left nothing for negotiations. His plans to expand settlements in Jerusalem, means evacuation of the old city from its original Arab citizens. Lieberman who called for bombing the High Dam and reoccupying of Sinai few years ago would be the new foreign minister.
Then the new Israeli government would have two warmongers on top of a weak cabinet that includes the Jewish version of Bin Laden and Zawahri. It is supposed that this government would negotiate peace.
This new government should remember the response of the Egyptian officials to Lieberman when he talked about the High Dam and Sinai. This government may lead Israel to a strategic disaster if it formed its strategy based on ideology and myths of fundamentalists.
Yet another strategic change happened in the previous years. The first thing is that Israel could not win any ground war. It still keeps an air force capable of destroying cities and killing civilians but its army failed in two campaigns against Lebanon and Gaza despite crimes committed against civilians. The second strategic change is that Israel became part of proxy wars. This limited the strategic value and downsized the weight of the Hebrew State.
Even if Netanyahu declared that he would continue negotiations his government will fall with any hard strategic decision because both Shas and Lieberman would withdraw from the alliance. Ironically this government came at a time when Obama´s administration tries to reconcile with the Islamic world. Therefore, if the American administration is sincere Israel will be the Americans´ strategic obstacle.
One understands the American Defense Secretary´s announcement that the US would not wage more preemptive wars based on unproved intelligence information as telling the Israelis to stop instigating against Syria and Iran. To balance his announcement his Chief of Staff who gets information from the same sources attacked the Iranian nuclear program. The Zionist Lobby stood against nominating a CIA chief with good relations with Saudi Arabia. This means that both the Lobby and Israel wanted to keep influence in the main source of information in the US and to try to direct it.
Then the Arabs are about to face a weak Israeli government with two warmongers on top and conflicts in Washington to put obstacles for Obama, Gates and Clinton to preemptive their efforts to solve Middle East problems and reconcile with the Islamic world.
However one notices that both Obama and Perez congratulated the Iranians on the same day for the Nowruz feast. This means that both Washington and Tel Aviv settled a timetable for diplomacy with Tehran. After expiring this time other options will be on the table.
The future scenarios range from local wars interrupting the American-Iranian dialogue to full scale regional war. To keep peace the Arabs should act on different paths.
The first path is conducting a strategic dialogue with the US about both Israel and Iran. This dialogue should cover the spread of Mass Destructive Weapons, MDW in the region and inspection of nuclear facilities in all countries by the same authorities using the same rules.
The second path is to promote international investigations about war crimes during Gaza War. It is known that the fanatics have obsessions about their safety. They may ask others to commit crimes provided that they are safe. Accusing and indicting whoever responsible about war crimes in Gaza will prevent Netanyahu and Lieberman from taking the same decisions. At the same time it will be a test for the new American administration to prove real change in policies.
The third path is the reconciliation between Palestinian factions and between Arab States. The fourth path is to show Israel and Iran that the Arabs are capable of safeguarding their interests in Palestine, Gulf, Iraq and Lebanon. The fifth path is the active diplomacy, popular diplomacy and media campaigns in the US to expose the Zionist lobby and to prevent it from ruining the reconciliatory effect of the new administration with the Islamic World. The sixth path is showing the new Israeli government that threatening to attack neighboring states will just harm Israel and its future in the region.
Arabs should ask the new Israeli government to declare its frank agreement about the Two-States solution or Arabs should ask the international community to support the One-State solution that keeps the right of Palestinians to live on their historical land with equal rights.
Netanyahu is fundamentalist regardless of his recent media campaign to improve his image. He refuses the two states solution, refuses to withdraw from Golan and he wants a united Jewish Jerusalem as a capital for Israel. Then, he left nothing for negotiations. His plans to expand settlements in Jerusalem, means evacuation of the old city from its original Arab citizens. Lieberman who called for bombing the High Dam and reoccupying of Sinai few years ago would be the new foreign minister.
Then the new Israeli government would have two warmongers on top of a weak cabinet that includes the Jewish version of Bin Laden and Zawahri. It is supposed that this government would negotiate peace.
This new government should remember the response of the Egyptian officials to Lieberman when he talked about the High Dam and Sinai. This government may lead Israel to a strategic disaster if it formed its strategy based on ideology and myths of fundamentalists.
Yet another strategic change happened in the previous years. The first thing is that Israel could not win any ground war. It still keeps an air force capable of destroying cities and killing civilians but its army failed in two campaigns against Lebanon and Gaza despite crimes committed against civilians. The second strategic change is that Israel became part of proxy wars. This limited the strategic value and downsized the weight of the Hebrew State.
Even if Netanyahu declared that he would continue negotiations his government will fall with any hard strategic decision because both Shas and Lieberman would withdraw from the alliance. Ironically this government came at a time when Obama´s administration tries to reconcile with the Islamic world. Therefore, if the American administration is sincere Israel will be the Americans´ strategic obstacle.
One understands the American Defense Secretary´s announcement that the US would not wage more preemptive wars based on unproved intelligence information as telling the Israelis to stop instigating against Syria and Iran. To balance his announcement his Chief of Staff who gets information from the same sources attacked the Iranian nuclear program. The Zionist Lobby stood against nominating a CIA chief with good relations with Saudi Arabia. This means that both the Lobby and Israel wanted to keep influence in the main source of information in the US and to try to direct it.
Then the Arabs are about to face a weak Israeli government with two warmongers on top and conflicts in Washington to put obstacles for Obama, Gates and Clinton to preemptive their efforts to solve Middle East problems and reconcile with the Islamic world.
However one notices that both Obama and Perez congratulated the Iranians on the same day for the Nowruz feast. This means that both Washington and Tel Aviv settled a timetable for diplomacy with Tehran. After expiring this time other options will be on the table.
The future scenarios range from local wars interrupting the American-Iranian dialogue to full scale regional war. To keep peace the Arabs should act on different paths.
The first path is conducting a strategic dialogue with the US about both Israel and Iran. This dialogue should cover the spread of Mass Destructive Weapons, MDW in the region and inspection of nuclear facilities in all countries by the same authorities using the same rules.
The second path is to promote international investigations about war crimes during Gaza War. It is known that the fanatics have obsessions about their safety. They may ask others to commit crimes provided that they are safe. Accusing and indicting whoever responsible about war crimes in Gaza will prevent Netanyahu and Lieberman from taking the same decisions. At the same time it will be a test for the new American administration to prove real change in policies.
The third path is the reconciliation between Palestinian factions and between Arab States. The fourth path is to show Israel and Iran that the Arabs are capable of safeguarding their interests in Palestine, Gulf, Iraq and Lebanon. The fifth path is the active diplomacy, popular diplomacy and media campaigns in the US to expose the Zionist lobby and to prevent it from ruining the reconciliatory effect of the new administration with the Islamic World. The sixth path is showing the new Israeli government that threatening to attack neighboring states will just harm Israel and its future in the region.
Arabs should ask the new Israeli government to declare its frank agreement about the Two-States solution or Arabs should ask the international community to support the One-State solution that keeps the right of Palestinians to live on their historical land with equal rights.