An interesting commentary quoted in Haaretz:
"Netanyahu is going to surprise us all," said Ben-Eliezer, who is industry, trade and employment minister, after several tete-a-tetes with the prime minister over the past month.
He said Netanyahu had assured him, both before and after he set up the government, that he would continue negotiating with the Syrians.
Regarding the Palestinians, Netanyahu's plan will be based on a two-state solution, said Ben-Eliezer.
"It's not the same Bibi," Ben-Eliezer said. "He's much more open, patient and relaxed. He's not alarmed or dogmatic. Something happened to him. He realizes that he cannot afford another crash like the one in his previous term.
"He understands that there's a new administration in the United States, which is neither the Clinton Administration nor the Bush administration, and that if we don't come up with a peace plan, someone else will call the shots for us."
"If we find that Bibi lied to us, we'll quit [the coalition]," said Ben-Eliezer, who is a member of the security cabinet.
I have no idea if he's right, but let's hope he is. Go ahead, "not the same Bibi," and "surprise us all."
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2 comments:
I also hope Fuad is right, but I fear that even if Bibi has changed, the upper echelons of the Likud Party haven't. You don't have to go very far down the Knesset roster to encounter some seriously delusional thinking, and there's enough of it about to restrict the PM's freedom of action.
It's one of Israel's perennial curses: even when a prime minister ascends the learning curve, he has to deal with a party that's still at the bottom.
Amen. I'd almost wish for the days of direct election of the Prime Minister, but that didn't work well either. I never thought I'd be looking to Bibi as the hope of the Likud, but then I never thought I'd think of Ariel Sharon as the potential deGaulle of Israel, but I did before his stroke. It's odd how things develop, but strange how even when a leader changes, his followers don't.
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