By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has a consistent ally in his determination to avoid making peace with the Palestinians. The ally is Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas’ antics in Brussels this week offer yet another illustration of the mantra that has become a truism: Israel has no partner with whom to negotiate peace.
That Abbas moved to another hotel in Brussels when he heard that Israel’s President Rivlin would be also staying there, is perhaps understandable: too many complications and potential confrontations between members of the two teams. That he didn’t want to meet Rivlin can perhaps also be explained, albeit much less convincingly.
But when Abbas told the European Union that Israeli rabbis have told their adherents to poison the wells of the Palestinians, he took us back to the Middle Ages and the standard anti-Semitic canard. Europeans no doubt recognize the charge from their history; for all we know, some or perhaps even many, may still believe it.
The shocking statement by a man who purports to be a statesman and a state builder may not justify all or most of what the Jewish settlers are doing in the West Bank or the added massive subsidy they’ve just received from the government of Israel under the pretext that the current political situation requires greater defense spending in the territories, but it makes it more understandable why Israelis – and not only right-wing politicians – are coming to terms with the fact that the almost 50-year old situation created in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War is likely to continue for all we know for another half-century and more.
That’s the optimistic view. Pessimists fear that the Netanyahu government will use the present situation not only to pour in more Jewish settlers but also to gradually begin to annex territories as part of the State of Israel thus erasing all hope of a so-called two-state solution.
The rest of the world may learn to tolerate it. As it’s veering more and more to the political right so it finds the one-state solution more and more acceptable. Trump – to the extent that one can believe anything he says about what he’ll do if elected – is likely to applaud the Israelis. After all, Palestinians are mostly Muslims and Trump believes that Muslims should be kept at a short leash.
The European Union, unlike several of its member states, has been a harsh critic of Israeli policies and a less than impartial supporter of the Palestinians. It has been dealt a severe blow this week with the British referendum about seceding. It’ll have its own problems to cope with instead of trying to explain/justify Abbas’ sharing with them the medieval Christian canard.
All this suggests that it’s virtually impossible and mostly unfair to blame Israel for the failure to make peace. The Palestinians seem to be even more responsible for it and their president epitomizes it. And if he leaves offices, his successor is likely to be an even bigger liar and a much greater menace which may lead to another war, another humiliating defeat for the Palestinians and another set of losses in terms of people and prestige by Israel.
Despite idle speculations in some quarters in Israel, it seems that Abu Mazen’s antics in Brussels has given the Netanyahu government another lease of life. With enemies like that, who needs friends?
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Now residing in Israel, he may be contacted via dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)