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Why Netanyahu's victory means a new beginning for Palestine
The Israeli prime minister just threw decades of U.S. diplomacy out the window. Now, Washington has an opportunity to finally take a real stand for peace.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who had just a day earlier declared he would never allow a Palestinian state to emerge under his watch – a core tenet of U.S. foreign policy toward Israel and Palestine – won a significant election victory that will allow him to form a right-wing coalition to govern Israel for some years to come
The truth is, no one should be surprised by Netanyahu’s stance or the support he got for it. He has long opposed Palestinian self-determination and preferred perpetual occupation or apartheid instead. In the past, he had declared his government the “most pro-settlement government in history,” referring to the establishment of Israeli colonies in occupied Palestinian territory that fly in the face of the two-state outcome.
The question now is this: How should the U.S. respond, given that Netanyahu cannot even pretend to support the peace agenda, after the statements he made recently confirmed what his actions have been saying all along?
Reports suggested that had Herzog, Netanyahu’s main challenger, been elected, the Obama administration would attempt to quickly reengage in a peace process during the last years of Obama’s presidency and the waning years of 80-year-old Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ life. It would have been the last chance at a two-state solution that John Kerry declared, two years ago, only had two years left to live.
Source: www.msnbc.com