When it comes to the political landscape of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the only thing more insignificant than an American election is an Israeli election. The outcome of these campaigns, which seem to bathe in the limelight of the world stage, tend to have worse consequences for the Middle East almost every time. Both Netanyahu and Livni are different shades of the same gray area that has continued the ongoing legacy of devastation since 1948. Neither truly believes in giving Palestinians statehood or any of their land back, and neither has worked towards achieving any of the peace goals.
While the US elections brought some glimmer of hope to a minority in the Arab world who still believe Obama’s foreign policy might bring about a sliver of change, that hope is non-existent when it comes to Israeli elections. The latter is really just an event that some in our part of the world will be watching closely in order to gauge, predict or measure just how bad things will be in the next few years. For instance, the sharp advancing of the right wing parties, including the Lieberman-led Yisrael Beitenu party, foreshadows a near future that is incredibly dark for the Occupied Territories – as if that were any more possible.
And this is perhaps what I find to be the most interesting lesson about this conflict and perhaps the status-quo of this region in general: never underestimate the ability for things to get worse in the Middle East. It is a region that seems destined to finding new ways to sink deeper and deeper in to a night already devoid of stars.
Whoever truly ends up winning the Israeli elections, whether through seats or the formation of a coalition government, one thing is for certain: Palestinians will be losing out.
And that is why maybe no one should blame the palestinians if they choose to elect a more “conservative” Gov. and that they should even dare to think that there is no Israeli partner to negotiate with…
It’s hard to comment on this post, as what your saying is a well known fact and anyone who thinks the contrary is out of their mind.
What the Palestinians should think about is how to agree on a common ground for the good of the Palestinian people.
“And this is perhaps what I find to be the most interesting lesson about this conflict and perhaps the status-quo of this region in general: never underestimate the ability for things to get worse in the Middle East. It is a region that seems destined to finding new ways to sink deeper and deeper in to a night already devoid of stars.”
so true
but the result as it stands (a near tie and thus no overwhelming majority in the knesset) spells problems for the israelis… maybe they will be so consumed by infighting they will cease to be bothered by preventing aid shipments to Gaza.. or maybe the other way round..?
pre-script: this comment has the likely hood of of putting you on the path of enlightenment that this post placed your right foot on, alas on first glance it reads as gibberish.oh wait maybe that means ….
find it weird that you used 1948 and not 1967 … do you know why they use 1967 when talking about a Palestinian state ?
Dude ! like O M G dude, you reckon ? but i heard the dude next door say that this dude is running his campaign about getting all the right wing dingbat dudes to rally behind him in his cause to eradicate all the arab-israelis dudes! I think that means that its more about israel rather than the occupied territories dude! Since you gotta keep with the status quo and crap .So i reckon … SWEET !
…. you wanna know the other thing, that new PLO post-election, pre-draconian, full of schism system the Palestinian people are going for is the new capitalism … is the in thing. SO MINT !
Nas can you please fix the typo in my post ‘the contrary’ as opposed to ‘that contrary’
bambam: while steering me towards the path of enlightenment, would you mean re-articulating what it is you’re trying to say. the comment is heavily laced in a fog of sarcasm that i didn’t understand a thing.
thanks buddy
Very well-written. I do share your feeling about the Middle East seeming to always manage to find new ways to take steps back in this specific conflict… right when you think it can’t get worse there’s always that moment like “AH-HA! Didn’t think of THAT one!” lol
As for elections here giving hope…
Obama’s agenda has so many local items that the Israeli-Arab conflict could not matter less this year. This whole year if not two.
We have a new stimulus package getting thrown around and the President has been touring town hall meetings non-stop. In the midst of all this confusion is the withdrawal schedule in Iraq as well as tons of unemployment and immigration legislation being structured and approved. Next to all that is health insurance policy.
Add the fencing project in Mexico and reversal procedures for Bush’s recent tax amendments.
You cannot possibly know how unimportant the rest of the world is right now. We’re in over our heads recovering from our old president. He created so much work!!!!
Come to think of it, this is the single most convenient time for Israel to get away with as much as possible in record time. Many countries view us as World Police. Well World Police is not watching!
Palestinians elected a party with obliterating Israel as part of its charter. Compared to that the Israeli elections look quite promising.
What do you expect from a racist criminal ,bankrupt society,this will always happen in any society that is being spoon fed fear and racism by it’s own state security and defunct media,
What is being happening for some time in the Zionist entity ,had happened in Mussolini’s Italy ,Germany’s Hitler and Franco’s Spain,however, we all witnessed their demise and destruction because fascist racist States could not and will not be able to continue and sustain them selves .And the Zionist State is no different ,it will not be able to continue or sustain it’s self,it is just not possible ,and it’s political system will destruct it self soon or later and history and experiences have proved that fascist and racist state like South African white regime .
whoever becomes PM in Israel will still be good for Jordan…… even tho’ there’s a water shortage in Israel, Israel will still give Israeli water to Jordan annually.
Oh btw quite a number of Israeli Arabs and Druze voted for the Zionist parties in the Israeli election.!
Ù‹I agree with Nas on his take on the US and Israeli elections.I know I am going off topic here but it this issue really irks me. What baffles me is how so many people are raising a ruckus lately about the need for the Palestinians to “unite” claiming that this is the cause for all their problems.
2 things need to be considered here
1) The Palestinians have always had different opinions about how to face their problems starting with the Nakba, to the Naksa and beyond. The occupation started more than 60 years ago while the conflict between Dahlan (not Fateh) and Hamas started a couple of years ago. So this conflict has never been the problem, and it cannot be used as an excuse for the occupation. There were , and still is a plethora of Palestinians groups all of which have been created with the same goal, the Liberation of Palestine. SO if you want the Palestinian internal strife to end, the solution is simple, target those with a different agenda..the Dahlanians. Hamas with its current agenda has existed and cooperated with Fateh during Abu Ammar’s leadership, non of this nonsense happened. The change came after Abu Ammar died and Dahlan and his camp came to the surface…so the way I view it the cause is obvious, and the remedy is clear.
2) The Palestinians and the Arab Masses at large ( except for the few who are benefiting from the status quo) are very much united behind the resistance whether it be military, political, social or a mixture of all these. This has been amply demonstrated during the Gaza offensive, people are increasingly supportive of the resistance when and if it takes place and at the same time they are even more convinced of the futility of the so called peace process with a racist entity masquerading as a legitimate nation.
A ,,How generous and cute of you giving something you stole in the first place. for the last 60 years you have being stealing our water ,destroy our environment(the destruction of the dead sea and polluting it),introduction of nuclear weapons and burning next to our border ,the shrinking of the Jordan river that has been flowing for million of years. and now you come here and tell us we will give water,you people are not ashamed of yourself?
Aren’t we done with and had just about enough of the passive mentality of having a Loser’s Mindset”?
We (both Jordanians and Palestinians alike) would always lose out if we think from a pessimistic perspective. So the Israeli Hawks win the elections, is is better for me to sit on my b—- wining about “how the israeli right” is going to take a tough stance against the Palestinians?….or are we instead going to double and triple our efforts in standing for Palestinian rights, reconciliation, global campaigning, and develop a more intrinsic civil disobedience (non-violence tactics…ITS ABOUT TIME) that would bring further international pressure against the elements that may be on the ‘other side’. While we were glued to Al Jazeera (bless their daring reporters) watching the Israeli war machine shed blood shed and chaos in GHaza, to our utter ignorance (and preference on wasting our time on trivial arabic dubbed Turkish soap operas lol) the Israeli propaganda machine was deep in hard work promoting “their side” of the (fabricated no doubt) truth on You Tube, Face Book, global media blogs, etc….
Let us not waste our priceless time wining and fretting on how Netanyahu is going to stare at Mahmoud Abbas, but rather, work collectively on building up our stance and voice globally, media wise, culture wise, blog wise etc…