Zionism on dangerous ascent in Israel

For Americans who still want to pretend that the interests of Israel and the Uhited States should move in lockstep, let me introduce you to what passes for a mainstream politician there.

Danny Danon of the ruling Likud Policy is not a "backbencher." He's deputy speaker of the Israel Parliament, the Knesset.

Here's his Middle East peace "solution": Annex the Israeli-settled part of the West Bank. No, really.

While most voices in the Israeli and international news media are calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to grant major concessions to the Palestinians to forestall such a move, he should in fact do the opposite: he should annex the Jewish communities of the West Bank, or as Israelis prefer to refer to our historic heartland, Judea and Samaria.

And put the Palestinians in the unannexed but Israel-surrounded areas into citizenship-lacking apartheid.

No, really.

These (unannexed) Palestinians would not have the option to become Israeli citizens, therefore averting the threat to the Jewish and democratic status of Israel by a growing Palestinian population.

And, because the U.S., above all, has kissed Zionism's (not "Israel's") butt for decades, Danon says Israel can do this and get away with it too.

No, really:

In 1949, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion moved the Knesset to Jerusalem and declared it the capital of the State of Israel despite the 1947 United Nations partition plan, which had designated the city an international zone. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day War, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol annexed East Jerusalem and declared that the city would remain a united and undivided entity. And in 1981, Prime Minister Menachem Begin extended Israeli sovereignty to the Golan Heights.

In each of these cases, Israel’s actions were met with harsh international criticism and threats of sanctions; all of these decisions, however, are cornerstones of today’s reality.

In 1967, when Israel attacked the USS Liberty, LBJ should have strafed Tel Aviv. And, no, given Israel's four-decade record since then of stealth assassinations and more, the claims that the attack was deliberate are NOT conspiracy mongering.

But, no matter the current or upcoming occupant of the White House, the kissing of Zionism's (not "Israel's") butt will continue as certainly as sunset follows sunrise.

The death of Palestinian statehood …

Could soon be upon us, if you follow Stephen Walt’s reasoning, and take it to a pessimistic end game, not an optimistic one. I do follow his reasoning, and to that end.

I’m assuming that Bib Netanyahu will put together a Likud-led right-wing government to lead Israel. I’ll assume also that he takes a page out of Karl Rove’s playbook and governs to a 51 percent majority, or, if you will, to 61 members of Israel’s Knesset.

In that case, a Palestinian state is dead.

Will “street” Palestinians settle for autonomy, in an ever-more-fragmented West Bank?

No. And, the demographics keep moving against Israel.

Even with a dottering Mubarak in Egypt and a toothless Abdullah in Jordan, something will give. If it doesn’t from them, more radical Arab leaders will push harder.

Annapolis: The 1 1/2 state solution

Let’s be honest. Even if Annapolis did propose to solve anything, the “solution” it offered would be from the U.S.-Israeli point of view. And that point of view is, bluntly, the 1 1/2 state solution.

Now, that phrase, “1 1/2 state solution,” can be understood in one of two ways. The first way would be that Israel doesn’t want a fully independent Palestine for quite some time. That may or may not be the case, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

No, the U.S.-Israeli 1 1/2 state solution is the solution of only recognizing Mahmoud Abbas’ rump Fatah Palestinian government in the West Bank. That’s been the “solution” both countries jumped on ever since Palestinian Hamas won a free parliamentary election in January by a smashing margin.

For years, Likud-based governments in Israel have deliberately puffed up Hamas’ psychological profile in order to make it easier to demonize Palestinians in general. Labor, the times it’s been in coalition, has basically gone along for the ride.

Well, guess what, Likud? That’s now blown up in your face.

George W. Bush has been all about democracy promotion in the Middle East, ignoring clear evidence, such as Algeria’s late 1990s election, that free elections in the Middle East are most likely to elect Islamicist parties.

Well, guess what, W.? That happened in Palestine and it’s now blown up in your face.

But, it’s not just W. Way too many Democrats, let alone Republicans enthralled by end-time prophecies of the Christian Religious Right involving red heifers, temple rebuildings and Jewish conversions, are under thrall of Zionist strains in Israeli politics and Zionist-grounded Jewish-American political action groups such as AIPAC.

Until these shackles are shaken off, Middle East peace conferences are going nowhere.

I’m not excusing past terrorist acts by Hamas, as wingers are wont to claim left-liberal dialogue about Palestine and Israel does. Nor am I excusing Yassir Arafat’s post-Oslo lack of statesmanship. I’m simply stating the fact that anything short of a full two-state solution is bound to fail.