23 July 2010 By Osman Mirghani The Israeli writer Gideon Levy described Benjamin
Netanyahu as a huckster and con-artist in his article
[Tricky Bibi] that was published in the Haaretz
newspaper on 15 July 2010. Why? This is because just a few days ago a video that
was secretly filmed several years ago was broadcast
for the first time on Israeli Channel 10; this video
shows Netanyahu's true colours as he speaks about the
peace process, the Palestinians, and the US. This
resulted in the writer of the afore-mentioned article
saying that Netanyahu's words "bear out all our fears
and suspicions…that the government of Israel is led by
a man who doesn't believe the Palestinians and doesn't
believe in the chance of an agreement with them, [and]
who thinks that Washington is in his pocket." In the video, Netanyahu boasts that he succeeded in
destroying the Oslo Peace Accords during his first
term as Prime Minister. He said "I'm going to
interpret the accords in such a way that would allow
me to put an end to this galloping forward to the '67
borders." He went on to present his view on how to
deal with the Palestinians, saying "the main thing,
first of all, is to inflict blows [on the
Palestinians] that are so painful the price will be
too heavy to be borne." As for his perception of the US, it is one that is
bound to frustrate the Obama administrations,
especially as earlier this month the US president told
the press during his meeting with the Israeli Prime
Minister that "I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu
wants peace. I think he is willing to take risks for
peace." Had Obama heard what Netanyahu said in this
video, he may have hesitated to make such a statement.
In this video, Netanyahu says "I know what America
is. America is something that can be moved
easily…moved to the right direction. They won't get in
our way." Perhaps Netanyahu met Obama with this mindset of
moving him in the right direction, allowing him to
sabotage peace efforts and continue the policy of
settlement expansion, perhaps in order to "inflict
blows" upon the Palestinians. Given that Netanyahu
described Bill Clinton as being "extremely
pro-Palestinian", one can only imagine how he views
Barack Hussein Obama. Some might say that the video that was broadcast by
Israeli Channel 10 dates back to 2001, and that the
man could have changed some of his convictions or
policies, and that many politicians over the course of
time say things that they later no longer repeat
because the situation has changed. However anybody who
says this must recall that this is the man who even
disagreed with Ariel Sharon and resigned from
government in protest of Israel's unilateral
withdrawal from Gaza (Netanyahu was Minister of
Finance between 2003 and 2005). They must also recall
that his extremism policies and positions reflect his
strong convictions, not his circumstantial manoeuvres.
Netanyahu was brought up on the concept of a Greater
Israel, and he has not given up on this. The facts
show that Netanyahu in 2010 is no different than he
was in 2005, and in fact he may have grown even more
extreme than he was in the nineties, when he became
prime minister for the first time between 1996 and
1999. So when Netanyahu calls for moving to direct
negotiations with the Palestinians today, he is
specifying their outcome before they even begin, as he
is continuing with the settlement expansion, and wants
the Palestinians and Arabs to recognize Israel as a
Jewish state with Jerusalem as its eternal and
undivided capital. Whereas when he talks about a
Palestinian State, he is not talking about a real
state, but rather he is demanding a state that does
not have its own army, does not control its own
borders, regional waters, or airspace. He also refuses
the Palestinian refugees the right to return, and
believes that the unilateral and unconditional Israeli
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was a grave mistake the
likes of which Israel must never commit again. This is the real Netanyahu, and his extremist views
have not changed since 2001 – when the video that was
broadcast on Israeli television was filmed – and 2009,
after he became prime minister for a second time.
Since Netanyahu believes that "America is something
that can be easily moved" he is adopting [a policy] of
equivocation and trickery in order to buy time and
frustrate the peace efforts that are not in line with
his vision and conditions. By doing so, Netanyahu is
not concerned with angering the US, in the same manner
that he angered the Clinton administration in the
past, and is angering the Obama administration today.
Israeli writers discussed how Netanyahu presented
himself as being flexible and tractable to Obama
during their last meeting in the White House;
Netanyahu presented himself as a man who is flexible,
wants to achieve peace, and is prepared to take risks
in order to achieve this. However as soon as Netanyahu
boarded his flight back to Israel, his other side of "Bibi
the extremist" re-asserted himself. Netanyahu is different from Isaac Rabin, Menachem
Begin, and Ariel Sharon in that he wants to deal with
the peace process by "mock[ing] America, and trick[ing]
the Palestinians" just as Gideon Levy said. Other
Israeli writers see Netanyahu as a naturally evasive
figure with an arrogant nature. There can be no doubt
that a man like this will indulge in trickery and
evasion when he looks at the situation in front of him
and sees that the Palestinian ranks are divided and
the Arabs are in a weak position. It would be a grave
mistake for the Palestinians to accept a return to
direct negotiations without clear written guarantees.
Otherwise this would be "making the same mistake
again" as the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa
said following his meeting this week with US Special
Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell. Most
importantly, the Palestinians must realize that they
have to put an end to their disputes and unite their
ranks in order to strengthen their position in the
face of a man that is described even in Israel as a
fraud. Osman Mirghani is Asharq Al-Awsat's Senior
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