Think about it. The infamous Oslo Accords were signed in September 1993; almost exactly 31 years ago. Netanyahu has been prime minister of Israel for more than half of that period. For 16 years as leader of his country he has had the opportunity to reach out and make peace with the Palestinians by agreeing to the creation of an independent state of Palestine. That has never happened. He has always claimed that Israel has no partner for peace, and yet, in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas he has had a willing accomplice for decades. Abbas was a key figure behind Oslo and has been the head of the PLO since 2004, the PA since 2005, and Fatah since 2009. He once described the PA’s security coordination with the occupation state as “sacred”.
Instead of making peace overtures, Netanyahu has pressed ahead with Israel’s settler-colonial settlements across occupied Palestine. In 1993, there were an estimated 110,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, with another 140,000 in occupied Jerusalem. According to Israeli NGO Peace Now in September 2023, there are now 465,000 settlers in the West Bank, 230,000 in East Jerusalem, and 3,000 in Palestinian neighbourhoods in the occupied city. That’s an increase of almost 600,000 settlers during a time when, for the most part, Netanyahu was at the political helm in Israel. Even in opposition, he has never opposed the building and expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. On the contrary, he ended the construction freeze that had been in place under Yitzhak Rabin.
So, when he says that Israel has no partner for peace, we should assume that he is talking about himself. Oslo, remember, was supposed to lead to a peace deal between the occupation state and a sovereign state of Palestine by 1999, by which time the issues of settlements, Jerusalem and the borders of the two states would be determined.
Israel is alone among the member states of the United Nations in never having declared where its borders lie.
That, as much as anything else, should tell us that no matter how much land Israel steals from the Palestinians, it will never be enough for rapacious Zionism, the expansionist ideology upon which the state is built.
Netanyahu’s grandfather was a Polish rabbi, Nathan Mileikoswky, and a strong advocate of Zionism. He moved his family to British Mandate Palestine in 1920, including his son Benzion, the Israeli prime minister’s father, and changed the family surname to Netanyahu. Benzion Netanyahu was an active proponent of Revisionist Zionism and believed in a “more militant, right-wing Jewish nationalism”. It’s no wonder that his son Benjamin followed in the family’s militant Zionist footsteps. “Greater Israel” has always been on the Mileikoswky-Netanyahu agenda.
Most recently, of course, Netanyahu said, “We won’t allow the establishment of a Palestinian state.” He said at the same time that allowing such a “terrorist” state would be a “reward” for Palestinians rather than a right, as self-determination is under international law. In February, he boasted that, “Everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked the establishment of a Palestinian state…” A few weeks earlier, it was reported that “Netanyahu doubles down on opposition to Palestinian statehood,” and was “rebuffing US President Joe Biden’s push for [a] two-state solution.” Such comments belie earlier quotes which can be found online in which the Israeli leader claims to be active in the search for peace, and that it is being thwarted by the Palestinians.
“The Palestinians want a state,” he is reported to have said, “but they have to give peace in return.” We need to consider the context of this outrageous statement.
Israel is occupying Palestinian land; it is building settlements and transplanting settlers on that land, in contravention of international law. The International Court of Justice ruled recently that Israel’s settlements are illegal, a fact which has actually been known for decades. Indeed, the ICJ said the same thing in 2004. Former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967, John Dugard, has pointed out that, based on Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “Settlements are so clearly illegal.” Although Israel has argued that the convention doesn’t apply to Palestine because it wasn’t a state when it was occupied, the ICJ basically rejected this argument with its 2004 ruling.
Occupation is, by definition, an aggressive act.
The late historian and scholar of settler colonial studies Patrick Wolfe pointed out that, “Settler colonies were (are) premised on the elimination of native societies.” That is why people living under military occupation — like the Palestinians, for example — are entitled to resist occupation by any means available, “including armed struggle”.
To any reasonable observer, therefore, it is the Palestinians who are more entitled to tell Israel to “give peace” in return for a state. Put another way, end the occupation, Mr Netanyahu, and you shall have peace. And so shall the people of occupied Palestine.
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