Netanyahu comes to Washington
Nixon on China.
Johnson on civil rights.
Bibi on the Middle East peace process?
As the new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes his first state visit with President Barack Obama at the White House Monday, the emerging consensus among those closely following the dormant peace process is that Netanyahu, or “Bibi” as he is known by his nickname, may just surprise us all and create an opening for a breakthrough.
Don’t hold your breath.
Even if Netanyahu does stun the diplomatic world and embrace the idea of a two-state solution when he meets with Obama, it will be a long time coming. A very long time.
Netanyahu carries the historical baggage of his father, Benzion, a renowned academic who at 99 years still clings to a deep mistrust of the Arab world, and his brother, Yonatan, a national hero whose death during the 1976 raid on Entebbe embodies the Israeli belief that none can save Israel except the Jewish state itself. His family hangs over him, but Netanyahu is also a pragmatist.
And so the notion that perhaps “Bibi” is the one who has been chosen by fate and history to surprise us all is in the wind from Washington to Jerusalem and even in some Arab capitals.
Netanyahu’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, a Labor Party leader in the new coalition government, said as much on Israeli television Saturday.
”I think and believe that Netanyahu will tell Obama this government is prepared to go for a political process that will result in two peoples living side by side in peace and mutual respect,” Barak told Israel’s Channel 2 TV on Saturday.
That would be a quantum leap for Netanyahu, who throughout his political life has made it clear that he does not have faith in the Palestinians’ ability to rule themselves. It is a belief that has left him at odds with Washington particularly under President Bill Clinton with whom he had a rocky relationship.
Barak said he thought an agreement with the Palestinians could be achieved within three years. However, he did not explicitly use the word "state" in his remark, leaving open other options for Netanyahu.
After the Israeli prime minister met with Jordan’s king Thursday, a senior Jordanian government official told the Associated Press that Netanyahu was likely to endorse a two-state solution when he meets Obama on Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
And the word coming out of the Middle East seems to be in that direction. “He’s going to surprise the world. I believe that,” a long-time Israeli diplomat told GlobalPost in an interview last week.
The Israeli is a career diplomat and not the type who is easily swayed or one to throw around unwarranted optimism. But he was reflecting a widely held and counter-intuitive political aphorism in Israeli politics that “the left goes to war and the right makes peace.”
Netanyahu a hard-line hawk from the conservative and intransigent Likud Party was widely perceived as having dragged his feet and essentially derailing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process during his previous term as prime minister.
The Middle East is a place where the unpredictable can happen. But still, even if Netanyahu says all the right things in Washington on this visit, the reality of the situation is about facts on the ground. The facts on the ground for Netanyahu will mean he will have to stand up to the right-wing in his own country and stop the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank. Obama has made it clear that this is where a relationship of trust will have to begin.
This might happen, but, again, do not hold your breath. We are talking about years not months for the peace process to rise out of the still smoldering ashes of all the violence under which it has been long buried.
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