The Time is Now

On January 31 I wrote that only an Israeli – Palestinian peace agreement could resolve Israel´s existential concerns and that time was running out. Given the threat that the upheaval in Egypt presented to the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement, I thought that my perception of the situation would likely be shared only by committed "peaceniks."  It now seems that the idea is more widely held than I had imagined.

On Feb 1 Thomas Friedman wrote: "Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel is in danger of becoming the Mubarak of the peace process. Israel has never had more leverage vis-à-vis the Palestinians and never had more responsible Palestinian partners. But Netanyahu has found every excuse for not putting a peace plan on the table... ...Israel has an overwhelming interest in going the extra mile to test them... ... it is virtually certain that the next Egyptian government will not have the patience or room that Mubarak did to maneuver with Israel. Same with the new Jordanian cabinet... ... If Israel does not make a concerted effort to strike a deal with the Palestinians ... ... if Israelis tell themselves that Egypt’s unrest proves why Israel cannot make peace with the Palestinian Authority, then they will be talking themselves into becoming an apartheid state — they will be talking themselves into permanently absorbing the West Bank and thereby laying the seeds for an Arab majority ruled by a Jewish minority between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. any preconditions

In next Sunday´s N.Y Times Magazine, Bernard Avishai will divulge what ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wrote him in an email. “There is a danger that the events in Egypt will mislead some to lose hope in peace. I think the opposite, that there can be another way to challenge the events near us. This is the time to move forward, fast, take my peace initiative with the Palestinians and make a deal. This will be my advice to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Don’t wait. Move, lead and make history. This is the time. There will not be a better one.”

As I wrote on Jan 31, Itºs now or never."

Iconoclastically yours,
Ira
Lisbon, Portugal