Israel Needs Diplomacy Not Anachronistic Propaganda

Haaretz Editorial
Published 02:58 22.09.11
Latest update 02:58 22.09.11
Courtesy Of "Haaretz Newspaper"

On the eve of his departure for the UN General Assembly, whose members are being asked to recognize a Palestinian state in the borders of June 4, 1967, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented his trip as an emergency mission to save Israel from a plot to destroy it.

At a well-publicized demonstration of support by his Likud Knesset faction and mayors, Netanyahu promised that in tomorrow's speech to the General Assembly, he will represent "a people under assault from those who oppose its very existence." This erroneous representation shows that even now, when Israel's leadership is required to show diplomatic initiative, the prime minister intends to use the international organization's stage for anachronistic propaganda that bears no relationship to Israel's most vital interests.

Instead of bolstering pragmatic partners like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan, Netanyahu prefers to throw sand in the public's eyes and terrify it.

Abbas stressed in a speech last Friday that his bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state was not intended to replace direct negotiations on the basis of the 1967 borders. Before that, the leadership of Abbas' Fatah party adopted the formula of mutually agreed land swaps that U.S. President Barack Obama proposed in May, as well as the Arab peace initiative of 2002.
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If a Palestinian state fails to win a sufficient majority of the Security Council, or if the United States vetoes it, America's credibility among the Arab public will be eroded. And the punitive measures Israel intends to take against the Palestinians following the UN vote, combined with its disregard of the view of most the world's nations, could lead it into a regional conflict and international isolation.