Two-State Solution Not on Bennett-Biden Agenda
August 25, 2021
(JP) The question, these days, is less about how to make peace than how to prevent violence. It’s symbolic of how Prime Minister Naftali Bennett views the significance of this trip to Washington that he flew off without nary a word about the Palestinians.
Iran, the COVID-19 Delta variant and even climate change were on his list of issues as he stood on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion International Airport and briefly outlined for reporters the scope of the trip.
It was as if the IDF had not sent reinforcements to the Gaza border, fearing an escalation of violence while Bennett was in Washington for his first ever meeting with US President Joe Biden.
It was as if the Palestinian Authority was not in such a deep financial crisis that it may not be able to pay its workers this month, a move that would add tension to an already volatile situation in the West Bank.
Just a mere three months ago, failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had led to an 11-day war with Gaza, generated violence in Jerusalem and sparked Jewish-Arab riots throughout sovereign Israel.
But now, in the heat of August, those May events were treated like some distant nightmare best left locked in the closet and ignored.
When talking about the trip, Bennett and those close to him have focused all attention on Iran and its burgeoning nuclear threat.
Disagreements over strategy when it came to halting Tehran’s nuclear threat had been a source of tension between Israel and the former Obama administration. It had been expected that it could similarly set Bennett and Biden off on the wrong course.
But the further radicalization of Iran’s government, its increased uranium enrichment and the difficulties the US is experiencing in rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal, have opened a window of opportunity for Bennett to find some common ground with Biden on the issue.
When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, however, the only thing that binds the two men is a belief that right now it is enough to hold onto the status quo.
Story by Tovah Lazaroff for Jerusalem Post.
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