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Jewish World Review / May 22, 1998 / 26 Iyar, 5758
Jonathan S. Tobin
AFTER ALL THE STURM and drang of the last couple of weeks, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's triumphant tour of New York and Washington
seems a bit anti-climactic.
President Clinton and Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright had felt sure Netanyahu was too unpopular among American Jews to
resist pressure for concessions in exchange for empty Palestinian promises.
But Clinton and Albright were obvious and maladroit.
Their ultimatum was
something no one outside of the far left of the Jewish spectrum - could
support. And Hillary Clinton's pose as the patroness of Palestinian statehood, alienated even those Jews who are not fond of Netanyahu. The only possible course of action for Netanyahu in the face of this barrage was to stand fast.
And, at least for the moment, that is what he has done.
The result was not only a boost in his domestic standing but in his support
from American Jews. As long as Israel is being wronged and despite all the
spin coming out the Bibi-haters within the Jewish world, Israel was
atrociously mistreated in the negotiations Jews everywhere want to see
Israel's prime minister show some spine. Bibi did and he has been justly
rewarded for his display of backbone. Polls back in Israel show him with a
solid lead over all potential challengers including Labor hopeful Ehud
Barak.
But, having successfully rallied mainstream American Jewish leaders and the
rank and file behind his position against an American diktat, I am still
wondering where he is heading.
In the course of his campaign against U.S. pressure, Israel's government
made a powerful case against continuing the process along its current lines. The
Palestinians are not observing the Oslo accords. They haven't changed their
Covenant. They allow Hamas terrorists to organize openly and march in the
streets of PA territory. Their own heavily armed PA "police force" has tens
of thousands more soldiers than the Accords allowed. They don't extradite
terrorists and worst of all, they foment violence themselves. A peace
partner
who uses violence at every turn of the negotiations is no peace partner.
That's the problem.
If Arafat and the PA were truly interested in peace and
had won the trust of the people of Israel, then the debate about percentages
of land would be meaningless and unnecessary. But since the PA is so
obviously
uninterested in peace, every percent means danger and possible lost Jewish
lives in future conflicts. And given the strategic threats from the rest of
the Arab world including friends like Egypt who are armed to the teeth and
carrying on war games aimed at the country to their east Israel cannot
afford to pretend it is living in Shimon Peres' "New Middle East" fantasy
land.
But since Netanyahu is committed to the peace process, the question is, what
will he accept as the price to pay for continuing the process? Having made
such a fuss about 13.1 percent more land to be handed over to Arafat, Inc.,
how could he now credibly agree to it?
Since the dynamic of this process is that "progress" is only made when
Israel
makes concessions and nothing is ever required of the Palestinians (who sell
the same pledges about terrorism over and over again like a used rug),
sooner
or later, Bibi has to fold.
Having invested himself in this dubious process
with the surrender of Hebron and countless other concessions for which he
has
been given little or not credit, Netanyahu is bound to keep giving.
My question is, how will he do it without embarrassing all of the American
Jews who have finally stood up for him? How can he agree to 13.1 or
something
like it in exchange for nothing without making the events of the past month
an
empty farce?
Can this man who so many have dismissed as shallow, actually have the
courage
to change the course of the process and transform it into one which is
actually based on reciprocity? Or will the next act of this play be a
dispiriting repeat of past bravado followed by shameless retreat? Just like
his American counterpart, Netanyahu is a man whom many believe has no core
beliefs and no objective other than re-election and power.
Bibi has called Clinton's bluff.
It is time for him to demonstrate that he
was
truly worthy of the cheers he earned this past
The importance of being Bibi
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger.
