By Ira Sharkansky
JERUSALEM — We’re now in a hot spot, a few days before the parties must finalize their existence and candidates prior to the April election.
And who knows how long before the announcement about Bibi’s indictment?
Each newscast provides us with commentary, and often another survey.
Intellectually, it’s a mess. But we let the media people continue. They’re getting paid, and doing no harm. Or much that is good.
We’re also hearing from some has beens. Ehud Barak is 77, and can’t resist another media presentation to dismantle his former colleague, Bibi Netanyahu. Here and there we hear from an old former Labor Knesset Member, expressing socialism and a two-state solution, and hinting that Avi Gabbay isn’t up to running the party.
Bibi may be feeling the tension. He’ll be 70 in October, the Legal Adviser to the Government is closing in, and there are rumbles of discontent from within Likud.
Avigdor Lieberman is predicting that Bibi will be offered a deal: resign, go home, and no indictment.
Yet there is a precedent of Prime Minister Olmert going the route, and sitting in jail for 16 months.
Meanwhile Bibi continues to serve. He’s gone to Warsaw as Foreign Minister to talk about Iran, Palestinians, and terror.
He’s also violating an order from the Supervisor of the Election by publicizing pictures of him with soldiers, as if he is the major defender of national security.
And his appearance at the Warsaw conference was impressive. He sat next to the Foreign Minister of Yemen and chatted with representatives of the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait. From all came the indication that opposition to Iran among those countries had taken first place from concern with Palestine. But while there would be closer relations with Israel, there could be no accomplishment of full diplomatic relations without a solution to the Palestinian problem.
Okay. That’s a considerable accomplishment for Israel, not necessarily due to Netanyahu, but something that has come on his watch.
Together with his personal corruption, it summarizes the issue facing Israeli voters.
There’ll also be a high-profile visit with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, likely to be another meeting with Donald Trump, and there’s been an interview with Voice of America in Farsi, dealing with Israel’s relations with Iran.
These all remind Israelis about who is at the head, and continues to work there despite the bother of domestic inquiries.
Benny Gantz identified himself with Bibi’s policy toward Iran at a conference in Munich. Then Bibi ridiculed him as a follower, not as good as the man that he was to make crucial decisions.
These meetings also depict the residue of several generations of hatred promoted by Palestinians and supported by Arab governments. They are locked into a program of a Palestinian State, with its capital in East Jerusalem, and borders that are those, or close to those of 1967.
But the Palestinians of the West Bank will deal with Israel as it is, including the settlements. And so will Sunni Arab governments.
Meanwhile, Palestinians and their friends in Europe and North America seem to be stronger than they are in the Middle East. Fuzzy borders between anti-Semitism and opposition to Israel’s existence have gotten into Congress and find support on college campuses and movements for women’s rights.
Internal conflicts among Palestinians and Israeli Arabs get in the way of formalizing peace.
It’s not only West Bank vs Gaza, but conflict within both sectors. And the resistance of leaders to accept negotiations that will require concessions.
Mahmoud Abbas has already nixed a role for the United States, perhaps due to moving its Embassy to Jerusalem.
Payments continue to the families of those killed or imprisoned for terror.
Right-wing Israelis insist that God gave all the land between the Jordan River and the Sea to the Jews, while those who have gotten into Israeli offices seek to cope with it all.
If those in Likud and its supporters insist that Bibi can be Prime Minister until the end of judicial proceedings, we’ll have him for several more years.
Yet if the initial decision on an indictment leads to further weakening of his position in Likud, we may be finished with him by the time of the April election.
If someone sees a solution to our problems with the Palestinians, let me know.
That’s where we are.
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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of Hebrew University. He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com