by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
He’s said it countless times before in myriad ways. But he usually only says it in Hebrew. This week, however, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in English, and on camera, that under his leadership Israel will never end the occupation of Palestine.
Speaking at the Economic Club of Washington earlier this week, Netanyahu dodged a question about whether he supports a one- or two-state solution, and outlined a vision that sounds a lot like an entrenched and enhanced version of the occupation as it exists today.
“I don’t want the Palestinians as citizens of Israel and I don’t want them as subjects of Israel. So I want a solution where they have all the powers they need to govern themselves but none of the powers that would threaten us,” the prime minister said.
“What that means is that whatever the solution is, the area west of the Jordan — that includes the Palestinian areas — would be militarily under Israel,” he continued. “The security, the overriding security responsibility would be Israel’s.”
The mainstay of Israel’s military occupation, of course, is Israeli military control over the Palestinian territories and Palestinians themselves. Through the Oslo Accords, Israel has been able to minimize and outsource much of its control over Palestinians to the Palestinian Authority, but insists on retaining what Netanyahu calls “overriding security responsibility.”
Even after a peace deal, or in Netanyahu’s words, “a solution,” the occupation of Palestine will continue. And without sovereign control of its territory, there would definitely be no independent Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has been saying this for years. In 2014, less than three months after the collapse of the Kerry peace talks, Netanyahu statedthat “that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan.”
A year after that, in 2015, Netanyahu declared that a Palestinian state will never be established on his watch. Fast-forward to 2017 and the prime minister started promising that he will never remove any Israeli settlements from the West Bank, without which even basic Palestinian autonomy is inconceivable. And more than a decade ago Netanyahu was filmed bragging about how he set out to sabotage the Oslo Accords.
None of that is to suggest that Netanyahu alone is responsible for the lack of peace or Palestinian statehood. His views are not all that different than the vast majority of Israeli politicians who hope to replace him one day. But next time anyone tries to lay blame on the Palestinians for “refusing to return to the table,” remember how Benjamin Netanyahu keeps openly stating his unwillingness to ever end the occupation.
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man is the editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine and a regular contributor of both reporting and analysis. Prior to joining +972 he worked as the news desk manager for JPost.com. Republished, with permission, from +972 Magazine.
Israeli leaders can be sure that currently whatever they want will be backed by the US. The US in fact went through a similar scenario when the European settlers came to North America and murdered most of the inhabitants and put the remainder on reservations. Plus now there is the religious factor with Christian history in the affected area.
But the authority of US backing is currently threatened by Iran ascendance in the Middle East. The US presence in the ME has only served to strengthen Iran, with its authority extending from Tehran to Beirut. What to do about that? is the question, actually with no likely answer in which case Israel’s behavior must change.
@WINTERGREEN, The people of ME, living in a relatively small region, must have been really bad and ruthless that Abraham had to send more than 3 prophets to straighten them out. In fact all prophets have invited the masses to love one another rather than oppressing or destroying one another. So far nothing has worked and the oppression, killing and land grabbing have continued to be practiced to date!
If the students are really bad, misbehaving and don’t want to learn they won’t no matter how good the teachers are!
It is not only Palestine that is under occupation.
So too is Israel.
All Israelis are walled-in by an occupation wall.
They are all dominated by a fascist military occupation.
They have the illusion of freedom without the reality of it.
It is just that most Jewish people living in Israel have yet to realise this.
When they do, maybe things will change.
Just don’t anyone hold their breath waiting for this to happen.