Netanyahu: Settlement Freeze is Temporary, One Time

by Eric on December 2, 2009

It seems that Benjamin Netanyahu is often smarter than people give him credit for (including me last week).  After giving the Palestinians, and the rest of the world, time to react to his new settlement construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, the Prime Minister has said that the freeze was a one time and temporary measure.

Like, I suspect, was the intent of Ariel Sharon’s proposal to move out of Gaza, Netanyahu was acting to test the waters and see what the Palestinians would do if offered something positive.  This showed both the United States administration, which has been pressuring for a settlement freeze, and the Palestinians, who claim that they will not negotiate without a settlement freeze, that Israel is serious about ending the current tense situation.

Now everyone has seen that Israel has made a concrete step and the Palestinains have not.  The only real thing preventing peace is the attitude of many Palestinian leaders that no peace is worthwhile if Israel remains at all.  It is much more to their advantage to play the part of the poor, weak population that was taken advantage of by a strong aggressor.  With 1.57 billion Muslims in the world, most of whom live in the Middle East, I think people’s idea of who is strong may be out of proportion.

About the author

Eric Eric is the founder and editor of IsraelSituation.com. He has been to Israel many times including a semester at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the former president of the Israel advocacy group at the University of Colorado and teaches about Israel and the Media at a local religious school.

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  • http://www.israelsituation.com/ Anthony Reich

    It is good that you acknowledge that you may have misread Bibi’s intentions. You may recall my comments where I speculated about how Bibi may be playing this game. I still believe that he has not given up a great deal in the “freeze”, but has astutely put the Palestinians on the spot.

  • http://www.israelsituation.com/ Eric

    It is easy to get passionate about this one. I have friends and family in large towns like Efrat and smaller villages around the impacted areas. Having had cousins (given they are distant cousins) removed from their homes by the IDF (peacefully), it is easy to get carried away on what small steps can lead to.

    While many Israelis supported the Gaza move, I wonder what the public perception is about the large settlement blocs. I know that Hebron is a tough sell, but Gush Etzion has a huge number of families.

  • Bryan

    The problem is that many people don’t see this as a real step at all. Apparently, to the rest of the world, if you continue to build in Jerusalem, nothing you offer matters. And now that Bibi has said that it is temporary, people won’t see it as a gift with a deadline (and therefore a concession with a nudge for urgency), but as some lip service that won’t matter anyway.

    It wouldn’t matter if Israel offered the Palestinians each and every square inch of territory they demanded except for a square foot in the Kotel. The Israelis would be called intransigent and people would say they were “blocking the peace process.”

  • http://www.israelsituation.com/ Eric

    Bryan, that is a great point. It is a tough situation with many double standards. However, I just have to have faith that people will see attempts for peace as what they are: true attempts for peace.

    There are many anti-Semites in the world who would love to see Israel disappear. Those people are good at manufacturing lies and news to Israel’s detriment. We have to respond by taking the higher path and being honest. All we need is the truth to win this perception battle. The tough part is, not enough people are out there spreading the truth.

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