I am pretty disappointed in Israeli voters for decisively re-electing Netanyahu. His promise was very clear, there would never be a Palestinian state.
There is no chance of a two state solution. There is only the relentless drive to eliminate Palestinians from Palestine. There will be no "peace process", of course there never was, it was always a pretense. The mask of Israel is off, and the real face is the face of a police state which oppresses Palestinians, occupies more and more of their territory, and makes life as difficult as possible in its relentless efforts to drive them out - this is the "one state solution" that has been obvious for years but America has pretended that a "two state solution" was always possible. It's not.
Israeli peace activist, Miko Peled, gave an hour long talk a while back and I was so fascinated that I listened to the entire thing. He tells of the dark side of Zionism - drive out the Palestinians, Israel for Jews only, punish and oppress Palestinians. The rest is all pretense.
If you focus on Hamas terrorist acts you naturally conclude that the Netanyahu approach is necessary - a matter of self defense. I have come to the conclusion that focusing on Hamas is the key to Israeli propaganda to justify their oppression of the Palestinians.
But if you focus on the lives of the Palestinians the entire picture changes. You finally start to notice that they are living in a totalitarian police state. And what do oppressed people do when they live in police states? they fight back. Terrorism is the language of the oppressed. Terrorism is the language of the hopeless and impotent. Remove the oppression and the fuel for terrorism dries up.
It is a shame that American hawks are so committed to Netanyahu and his dedication to oppression and war. One of Netanyahu's lovely goals is to goad America into war with Iran. Let's have you and them fight, is his message. Fortunately, we have a president who won't take the bait.
God help us all if a Republican hawk becomes president and dances to the tune of Netanhahu, or more to the point Netanyahu's biggest contributor, American casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. The American Jewish lobby has had too much influence for too long on American policy.
The Cold War is over and U.S. interests in Israel have waned. It is time to rethink our relationship with Israel, especially when they have made it so blindingly clear that peace with the Palestinians is not now, never was, and never will be possible.
