http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.650057

Netanyahu’s never-ending excuse for opposing a two-state solution

His argument has been the same for over 20 years: you can’t trust the Palestinians to act peacefully.

By Peter Beinart | Apr. 1, 2015 |

In case you missed it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains deeply committed to the two-state solution. Sure, he said in the final days of his reelection campaign that “anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state and evacuate territory gives territory away to radical Islamist attacks against Israel." But that doesn’t mean he opposes a Palestinian state. He’s just reluctantly deferring the dream of one because of circumstances outside of his control. “What has changed is the reality,”

Bibi toldAndrea Mitchell. “Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] refuses to recognize the Jewish state, has made a pact with Hamas that calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and every territory that is vacated today in the Middle East is taken up by Islamist forces.” Bibi’s man in Washington, Ron Dermer, added that “He is committed to a vision of peace, of two states for two peoples. A demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state of Israel. What has changed is the circumstances over the last few years.” 

This is wildly unconvincing. When Bibi and Dermer say a Palestinian state has become impractical because of Abbas’ pact with Hamas, his refusal to recognize Israel as “a Jewish state” and the rise of Islamism in the Middle East, they’re implying that in a previous era, before these unfortunate events, they thought a Palestinian state should be established right away.

But there was no such era. Bibi’s opposition to Palestinian statehood dates to at least 1978, before Hamas even existed. http://vimeo.com/3937982 In 1993, before Israeli leaders were even asking Palestinians to recognize Israel “as a Jewish state” (as opposed to simply recognizing Israel), Bibi warned that “to subdivide this land into two unstable, insecure nations, to try to defend what is indefensible, is to invite disaster.” In 1998, long before violent jihadists controlled chunks of Syria and Iraq, Bibi told the Jerusalem Report, “I do not believe such a [Palestinian] state is a historic imperative… Nor do I think Israel can achieve peace only by establishing a Palestinian state. On the contrary, I am convinced that such a state will endanger Israel and cause war.”http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.650057