For a leader often accused of not wanting to talk peace with the Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sure does a lot of talking about wanting to talk to the Palestinians.
In three statements this month, Netanyahu repeatedly stressed the need for peace with the Palestinians. He called the peace process one of his highest priorities and hinted that a renewal of talks might be underway.
“There’s nothing I want more or am more active on, in many ways you don’t know,” he wrote on Twitter in response to a question about peace talks. Later that same day, speaking to foreign diplomats in Jerusalem, he asked for help arranging a meeting between himself and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“I have taken steps that no other prime minister in Israel’s history has taken to advance peace,” he said on May 12, Israel’s Independence Day. “Every minute that President Abbas refuses to accept my call for peace robs Palestinians and Israelis of the opportunity to live without fear.”
Netanyahu’s commitment to a Palestinian state, even in theory, has remained a question mark and divided observers of Israeli politics since he took office in 2009. Both his defenders and his critics point to different sets of gestures and statements he’s made that signal support for — or opposition to — a two-state solution. In the lead-up to elections 14 months ago, he dismissed the possibility of a Palestinian state on his watch.
But in a talk to North American Jewish federations last November, he said he “remain[s] committed to a vision of two states for two peoples where a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the Jewish state, and Israel will continue to work for peace in the hope that what is not achievable today might be achievable tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Abbas repeatedly has declined another round of negotiations, saying he would only talk following Israeli good-faith measures. Before the last series of talks, in 2013, Israel released 82 Palestinian prisoners before the two sides met. Netanyahu’s defenders say Abbas’ reticence shows that the Palestinian leader remains the main obstacle to a deal.
“This process has two sides, and I think the central problem isn’t Israel but Abu Mazen,” said Shaul Shay, using Abbas’ nom de guerre. Shay was the deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council until 2009.
Abbas instead has turned to international forums, including the United Nations, to recognize a Palestinian state and hold Israel accountable for what he calls violations of international law.
Most recently, Abbas endorsed a French-led initiative to convene an Israeli-Palestinian peace conference for the summer, an initiative Israel opposes.
The initiative calls for a regional peace conference to be held this summer. Should negotiations fail, France has vowed to recognize a Palestine state. Israel thus far has refused to participate.
“The only way to advance a true peace between us and the Palestinians is by means of direct negotiations between us and them, without preconditions,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet on May 15. “Any other attempt only makes peace more remote and gives the Palestinians an escape hatch.”
The France initiative is just one factor leading Netanyahu to emphasize peace talks again, analysts say. Another was his desire to project optimism on Israel’s Independence Day.