Explaining Israel’s Reaction to the U.N.’s pro-Palestinian Vote

[DonViejo]

Explaining Israel’s Reaction to the U.N.’s pro-Palestinian Vote

Dec 3, 2012 12:00 AM EST

The loss was inevitable. The question is, what to do next.

Israel’s leaders stayed surprisingly calm last week. In the weeks leading up to Thursday’s vote on upgrading the Palestinians’ U.N. membership, a few senior Israeli officials drafted a position paper focusing on how the government should respond. The U.N. move, the writers warned, threatened to “severely damage” Israel’s credibility and undermine the Jewish state’s position in future peace negotiations. But more than that, they added, the initiative could open the door to war-crimes prosecutions against Israelis at the International Criminal Court. The five-page paper, dated Nov. 12 and obtained by Newsweek, advised that if the vote went ahead, Israel should “exact a heavy price” from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas—a price to include dismantling his Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority. “A softer approach would amount to waving a white flag and admitting that the Israeli leadership is unable to rise to the challenge,” the writers concluded.

The upgrade, which the General Assembly approved last week by a huge majority, is a bitter pill for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It includes not only a boost in the Palestinians’ status from (U.N. jargon alert!) “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state,” but also a recognition of their right to all of the West Bank and Gaza, including territory that Israelis have settled since 1967. Even some dovish Israelis have problems with the resolution’s sweep. And yet Israel’s response—a dismissive statement from the prime minister and the floating of plans to build thousands of new housing units in the West Bank—fell well short of the threats to topple Abbas. “This is a meaningless resolution that won’t change anything on the ground,” Netanyahu said in a handout just before the vote.

What cooled things down? Although Israeli governments often speak in multiple voices, internal disagreements don’t explain the change. To be sure, the officials who drafted the position paper work for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, where the boss, Avigdor Lieberman, is among the government’s hardest hardliners. For months Lieberman was saying that Abbas should be toppled. But Netanyahu was also threatening tough action against the Palestinians as recently as a few weeks ago. And when the rhetoric started softening in the days leading up to the vote, Lieberman’s tone moderated as well.

Instead, the shift evidently reflects something akin to panic in Israeli governing circles—and a desperate bid to contain the damage. That Israel would lose the General Assembly vote was a foregone conclusion. Netanyahu voiced hope for retaining the support of a “qualitative minority,” meaning the world’s leading democratic countries. But as even that vision crumbled—among Western democracies, only the United States and Canada ended up voting against the resolution—a sense of isolation crept over the Jewish state, a kind of déjà vu from the dark days of the 1970s. “There was a realization at some point that a harsh response would make it worse,” a senior Israeli official tells Newsweek, describing internal discussions before the vote. “And we can’t afford that. It would backfire on us.”

Full article:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/12/02/explaining-israel-s-reaction-to-the-u-n-s-pro-palestinian-vote.html

[bemildred]

1. Heckuva job Bibi. nt

[tech3149]

2. I am always fearful of commenting on any I/P post

It doesn't seem to matter how dispassionate, objective, or based on historical fact, you will get flamed. I think the final quote from the OP says it all.
“There was a realization at some point that a harsh response would make it worse,” a senior Israeli official tells Newsweek, describing internal discussions before the vote. “And we can’t afford that. It would backfire on us.”