Sunday, March 15, 2009
3/15/2009 07:55:00 AM | 
Posted by
JoeSettler
As Netanyahu goes overdrive into Left gear, a rotation government with Kadima/Livni is beginning to take coalesce.
All I can say is anyone who voted Bibi/Likud and Lieberman/Yisrael Beiteinu - you should have known before elections what you were voting for.
Bibi said from the beginning that he wants a "National Unity" (read: Left-leaning) government, and Lieberman is just a power-hungry Left-winger who spouts RW slogans for those who can't be bothered to read his party's platform.
But you got to hand Livni the prize for Chutzpah.
She is demanding a two-state solution *. Not a second (or third) Palestinian state (well, that too), but complete autonomy to set foreign policy as she sees fit, independent of the Prime Minister and government policy. And I mean complete. If she wants to enter into treaties and negotiations, she can do it all on her own, and Netanyahu has no say. If she wants to run around behind Netanyahu's back - no problem (deja vu!).
Now that's a two-state solution, or in Hizbollah terms, a state within a state.
And Netanyahu is considering it.
And Netanyahu now has a problem.
He's spent the past month dissing his natural partners.
The best move for him now would have been to say that Lieberman's demands are too much and he leaves it to Kadima to try to form a government. If he had built up trust with the religious and the right, he'd be in a position to trust Shas, Agudah, and Bayit Yehudi not to run into Kadima's arms, as (unless she brings in the Arab parties) without them she can't form a coalition.
But Netanyahu burnt that bridge, so Kadima, Labor, Lieberman (with everything), and 1 of the 3 religious parties is now a viable alternative - because of Netanyahu.
Otherwise, he could have simply threatened Lieberman with new elections, and that would have wiped Lieberman's party off the map - as most of the voters he tricked would have voted for everyone else instead.
But instead, Netanyahu burnt his bridges and now faces the existential threat of a two-state solution.
* Thanks to Jameel for coining the term.
All I can say is anyone who voted Bibi/Likud and Lieberman/Yisrael Beiteinu - you should have known before elections what you were voting for.
Bibi said from the beginning that he wants a "National Unity" (read: Left-leaning) government, and Lieberman is just a power-hungry Left-winger who spouts RW slogans for those who can't be bothered to read his party's platform.
But you got to hand Livni the prize for Chutzpah.
She is demanding a two-state solution *. Not a second (or third) Palestinian state (well, that too), but complete autonomy to set foreign policy as she sees fit, independent of the Prime Minister and government policy. And I mean complete. If she wants to enter into treaties and negotiations, she can do it all on her own, and Netanyahu has no say. If she wants to run around behind Netanyahu's back - no problem (deja vu!).
Now that's a two-state solution, or in Hizbollah terms, a state within a state.
And Netanyahu is considering it.
And Netanyahu now has a problem.
He's spent the past month dissing his natural partners.
The best move for him now would have been to say that Lieberman's demands are too much and he leaves it to Kadima to try to form a government. If he had built up trust with the religious and the right, he'd be in a position to trust Shas, Agudah, and Bayit Yehudi not to run into Kadima's arms, as (unless she brings in the Arab parties) without them she can't form a coalition.
But Netanyahu burnt that bridge, so Kadima, Labor, Lieberman (with everything), and 1 of the 3 religious parties is now a viable alternative - because of Netanyahu.
Otherwise, he could have simply threatened Lieberman with new elections, and that would have wiped Lieberman's party off the map - as most of the voters he tricked would have voted for everyone else instead.
But instead, Netanyahu burnt his bridges and now faces the existential threat of a two-state solution.
* Thanks to Jameel for coining the term.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment