Nobody has caught me saying a good word about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Not during his first term and not during his second one. In a "conciliatory conversation" between his two terms, mediated by his friend Dr. Gabi Picker, Bibi accused me of contributing to his downfall as prime minister.
I'm not retracting what I wrote then, nor what I'm writing during his current term. Bibi doesn't invite me for personal consultations and doesn't work his magic on me. I didn't predict that his appearance in Congress would be "the speech of his life," which means I wasn't disappointed. What was written in his mind's eye was perfectly executed - from the standing ovation in Congress to conveying the message to U.S. President Barack Obama that he has not withdrawn from the principle of two states for two peoples.
In retrospect, no dyed-in-the-wool Herutnik - someone from the forerunner of Likud - supported two states for two peoples. Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who won the Nobel Peace Prize along with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, did everything in his power to prevent any mention in the Camp David Accords of the Palestinians' right to a state. Even Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who evacuated the Gaza Strip settlements and spoke of the need to awake from the dream of a Greater Israel, didn't say two states for two peoples.
Bibi is the first Likud leader to utter the specific words "Palestinian state," and he expressed his willingness to negotiate in order to establish it - first in the Bar-Ilan speech, and now in his speech to Congress, which has been dubbed Bar-Ilan 2. Tzachi Hanegbi, the guy who had to be dragged down from the roof during the evacuation of the northern Sinai in 1982, has said he agrees with every word of Bibi's, even though he's a member of Kadima.
Look at Bibi's situation upon his return from America. The extreme right is attacking him, while the left is mocking him and describing him as a liar and a deceiver. The media is ripping him to shreds. His 101-year-old father is not sending him boxes of chocolate for his appearance in Congress. But Bibi understands the importance of the United States to Israel, and is still working to torpedo the threat awaiting us in September. Without a veto at the UN Security Council and/or an immediate renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians, our neighborhood will join the wave of regional uprisings.
Anyone who says that only the left can bring peace and a partition of the land is mistaken. The left is gradually melting away - and with a certain amount of justification. Who began building settlements in the territories, if not Labor in its previous incarnation? Who stubbornly refused to withdraw a few kilometers from the Suez Canal, as the U.S. administration demanded, to let Egypt open the canal to shipping, if not "Madam No," Prime Minister Golda Meir? In this way she brought the Yom Kippur on us. And when did two lethal intifadas break out, if not when Labor was in power?
And who achieved the historic peace treaty with Egypt, if not Herut leader Begin? He of all people set the precedent of withdrawal up to the last millimeter and the principle of evacuating settlements built on occupied territory. When Begin came to power, he was described in the world media as a man of war - a description he tried to disprove during the first half of his term, at least.
Begin was doubly fortunate: He had Moshe Dayan, who wanted to atone for his part in the Yom Kippur War and was appointed foreign minister. He also had Sadat, who after his success in the October War shouted from the rooftops that he wanted peace in order to get back the territories. And in the United States there was an exceptional figure like Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who both assisted us in the Yom Kippur War and helped turn it into a corridor to peace.
The problem now is the lack of an authoritative leader on the Palestinian side like Sadat, and the rift between Fatah and Hamas and dozens of other terror organizations that aspire to torpedo the possibility of peace. Both sides relate to the territories with a sense of awe and not as spoils of war that must be returned.
U.S. presidents then and now didn't really like Israel, but that didn't prevent Jimmy Carter from using his administration to achieve peace. It's not clear whether Obama has the same fervor. That means it's important that he confront an Israeli prime minister who has connections in America.
Bibi is the first Likudnik willing to divide the country, and he agreed to freeze construction in the territories for nine months. But their Sadat is not appearing, and Obama is not turning into Carter. At this confused point in time, Bibi still deserves a chance.
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