This week, in the midst of U.S.-brokered peace talks between the two parties, Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s Defense Minister, announced that Israel has no partner for peace amongst the Palestinians. While this is not an original argument — it has been in circulation for decades — it is a powerful one. Ya’alon isn’t just a member of Bibi’s coalition, he is a member of Likud, Bibi’s own party. Even if Bibi is only at the table to appease the U.S., as Prime Minister he should be given some freedom to negotiate, at least by members of his own party.
Senior members of Bibi’s coalition have made comments more damaging to the peace process (both often and recently) but this week, PA President Mahmoud Abbas defended Israel in a surprising and powerful way.
In South Africa for Nelson Mandela’ memorial service, Abbas told reporters and activists that he did not support boycotting Israel. He does support boycotting goods from Israeli settlements built in the West Bank, on lands generally considered part of a future Palestinian state. But he said not to boycott Israel, with whom the Palestinians “have relations.”
Abbas is already taking flak for the statement at home from those who disagree; not all Palestinians share his opinion. But Abbas is not a rogue member of the Palestinian coalition, he is their President. Abbas put his neck on the line — in South Africa of all places — to support Israel in the name of peace. The least that Ya’alon could do is reconsider how he defines a partner.
Netanyahu, unfortunately, was not in South Africa for the service. Bibi has had several embarrassing financial revelations over the last few months, including spending enormous sums of money on craft ice cream, scented candles, and to retrofit a plane for the short flight from Israel to London and back. But the expense of traveling to South Africa for an affair that brought together world leaders from nearly every country on the planet was simply too much for Bibi’s fiscal conservatism.
Maybe he could have asked Abbas for a lift?
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