When an Entire People Spark Unintended Consequences

Frankly I am amazed, but I suppose not shocked.

If there are any people in the world whose hope has been tempered by cynicism, it is the Israelis. 

Benyamin Netanyahu may turn out to be to centrist for the people of Israel.

Palestinians, such as they are, at least in the West Bank may have now missed their 66 year long opportunity to form an independent state.

Israel’s prime minister,Binyamin Netanyahu, has been forced to recalibrate his election campaign in response to a downward spiral in opinion polls due to a surprise challenge from an ultra-nationalist startup millionaire and veteran of Israel’s most elite commando unit.

New tactics are expected to be in evidence on Sunday when Netanyahu appears at a youth rally, following the panicked cancellation of an event on Thursday after dismal turnouts at two campaign rallies earlier in the week.

On the advice of his campaign strategist, US Republican adviser Arthur Finkelstein, the prime minister will stop making direct attacks on Naftali Bennett, whose far-right Jewish Home party has gained unexpected momentum. Assaults on the 40-year-old Bennett have boosted his electoral appeal, analysts say.

Netanyahu will focus instead on extreme rightwing and ultra-religious members of Jewish Home who are in contention to gain parliamentary seats in the election on 22 January – dubbed by some as the “list of lunatics”. Bennett has said his candidates are “the best of the best”.

A VERY LARGE % of the population of Israel, perhaps a CLEAR PLURALITY believes that about 60% of the West Bank SHOULD BE ANNEXED.

Cleary this is saying the following…

1. That plurality no longer believes a two state solution is possible since the Palestinians will never make peace … but among this group are those who always believed that Judea and Samaria ARE part of Israel.
2. That plurality believes that defense in depth supersedes any other consideration, partly or completely based in the experience of Gaza in 2005, and the triumph and ascension of the Muslim Brotherhood and its thinkalikes all over the lands of Islam.

If this is not more evidence that a regional war from Egypt to Iran is INEVITABLE on the path we are traveling, then I cannot imagine what you are thinking.

The Palestinians have never seen fit to negotiate the Right of Return, and now that Abbas mentioned SOMETHING like that (and been denounced all around in the west bank for doing so), no one is Israel can trust him amid the detritus of the actions of HAMAS, Hezballah, and the MB in Egypt.

Since 1947 the Palestinians have had a chance to make a state. Recently, the man most responsible for creating the day to day institutions of a state, Salaam Fayyad quit out of complete disgust, and his name is mentioned no more.

The unintended consequence of this rejection, and the rejection of the ENTIRE SURROUNDING PEOPLES of every state (as opposed to the govt of Egypt and Jordan….at one time) is that now the people of Israel are completely rethinking the entire idea of two states, and perhaps REJECTING IT, since the other side has been doing so for almost THREE GENERATIONS.

History changing war lies ahead for that region, and it is hard to imagine the USA can steer clear of either involvement in that war, or its results no matter what course we take, even complete cut off of Israel.

Seeing this Sunday morning that Chuck Hagel is apparently next in line of Merrill Mcpeak, , Jeremiah Wright, and Zbig, DESPITE MANY IN HIS OWN PARTY, Israel and its people had better have the most jaundiced view of their relations with Barack Obama possible. Certainly given the many choices available to Mr Obama at this moment in time, opposition to Hagel form the left and right, the appointment of Hagel is a message in itself, no matter what the outcome of the hearings.

Israel is again right where they were in the Spring of 1967.

This new annexation group is represented by Bennett.

Analysts say Bennett’s support is strongest among voters under 40. Around a third of those saying they will back Jewish Home, which is strongly identified with the religious right, define themselves as secular. “Bennett’s success comes from being young and fresh and offering hope and change,” said pollster Rafi Smith.

Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent of the Post, said: “Bennett is seen as a cool guy and salt of the earth. You couldn’t come up with two things more respected in Israel than hi-tech success and serving in Sayeret Matkal [the elite special forces army unit] – and Bennett has both.”

The son of US immigrants, Bennett made $145m from selling his hi-tech startup before becoming Netanyahu’s chief of staff for four years until 2008. His politics are far right, nationalist and religious. He believes Jews have a God-given right to the whole of Eretz Israel – which includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza – and advocates the expansion of settlements.

According to Yedidia Stern of the Israel Democracy Institute, “a long-term change in Israeli society” underlies Bennett’s immediate popularity. “More and more Israelis are strengthening their Jewish identity, not necessarily becoming more religious but becoming more connected to Jewish identity. We’ve seen it in academia and the media; now we’re witnessing the political expression.” The conviction among many Israelis that the Palestinians were unwilling to negotiate an acceptable peace settlement bolstered a belief that “we have to be strong. And to be strong in Israel means to be rightwing,” said Stern.

There is real trouble coming all the way around for Barack Obama, the middle east, and BELIEVE IT… China, Russia and the commodity OIL. All while Mr. Obama crushes America’s domestic fossil fuel industries.