Bibi, Barack and Jane Austen: Shut the Curtains, the Farce is Played Out, By: Andrew Taylor

FOR THE POLITICALLY NAÏVE AND PERHAPS THOSE WHO HAVE JUST WOKEN FROM 40 YEAR COMATOSE STATES Benjamin Netanyahu’s Speech means the Israeli Leader has accepted the idea of a Palestinian state.

Even for liberals who are ever ready to believe in Israeli democracy and noblesse oblige, Bibi’s words appeared to be a radical conversion from the position of the statesman who refused to make any references to the possibility of a Palestinian state at his meeting with President Obama in DC last month.

But alas this is the old Benjamin Netanyahu after all,– the same rightwing Israeli politician who promised to rip up the Oslo accords when he came to office, and who did just that when elected prime minister in ‘96. The reality behind Bibi’s burlesque dramatics was that in order to garner the support of its Arab client states a new US president was actually asking Israel to make a minor concession in order to oil the wheels of the US Imperium.

Well then, what is Mr Netanyahu prepared to concede in order to help out their old U.S pal?.

1. any future Palestinian state would not be allowed its own army or self-defense (trusting one would suppose in the sweet reasonableness of the IDF)

2. any future Palestinian state would not be allowed control of its own airspace (it is hardly a point after all when one is not allowed to own an aeroplane)

3. any future Palestinian state would not be allowed any of the other elements that are taken in international law to constitute a sovereign independent state

By demanding that a recognition of a Palestinian state be totally conditional on these farcical undertakings of de-militarization and the recognition of “Israel as a Jewish state” Netanyahu has only guaranteed that his call to "begin negotiations immediately, without preconditions" is dead in the water before launching.

This “yes” to Palestine by Bibi is a piece of theatre that no sane adult should countenance. His speech at Bar-Ilan University was NOT the "important step forward" in support of a two-state solution as the White House has chosen to spin it for political reasons. As Jane Austen penned in Pride and Prejudice, "What Wickham had said of the living was fresh in her memory, and as she recalled his very words, it was impossible not to feel that there was gross duplicity on one side or the other."

Bibi has lobbed the ball back in Obama’s court. Obama must show that he actually expects important concessions from Israel, and he must put a degree of real pressure on Israel that will force it do the things that make for peace.