Netanyahu and Liquid: It’s Ultra Wave Again

After a successful hate campaign that lasted months, Netanyahu managed to reach a comprehensive win in Israel election on Wednesday. The Israeli media has it that Netanyahu’s Likud party won 30 seats in the 120 member Knesset, disrupting all hopes of Zionist Union winning the election. Having won the election, the Likud party now is in the process of debating with some parties to form a government, which is Zionist in character. A wave of support has already been woven from Kulanu party’s leader Moshe Kahlon, a former Likud member, who has managed to win 10 seats in the election. For Likud party, forming a government might be difficult as they need 61 seats in the Knesset, probably a herculean task given the internal division among the Israeli political parties. However, given the Zionist temperament inherent in the Israeli political imaginations, it seems that Netanyahu need not go far to befriend somebody in his Zionist endeavors. The way he campaigned for the election shows how hard he is committed to the Zionist doctrines which he deliberately upholds dismantling all hopes of peace processes in the region.

Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were closely watching the general election in Israel. Though the election may bring in new Israeli government, on the street of Ramallah, the view was anything but hopeful. A Palestinian told Reuters that they were always waiting for a new government, new elections, but they haven’t seen anything positive. He added that all of the competitors were Zionists and they are vying with one another for confiscating Palestinian lands, killing Palestinians and controlling holly sights including Jerusalem. The decade old conflict between the Palestine and Israel barely factored into the campaign, and that has left Palestinians with the sense that whether prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu wins the forth term in office or the centre left opposition wins as polls suggest, little is likely to change.

The Financial Times has it that the hate mongering campaign of Netanyahu now has become a concern for Obama Administration that promotes Israel-Palestinian peace process. But slightly more committed to the Jewish settlements of Palestine, the Obama administration has continuously mocked the peace processes by blatantly negating all political assertions of the Palestinians, discrediting their struggles and denying their existence as political subjects. Although it can be argued that the violent rhetoric of Netanyahu may discredit his claims among the European governments and the Obama administration, it is unlikely that they will allow Palestinians to define themselves, to tell their own stories.

Netanyahu had agreed a two state solution in 2009, which is ironic given the fact that Israel being a colonizer. He has now come to the fore declaring his denial of two-state solution. However, it can be argued that being Zionist in character, the existence of a colonialist state acknowledging or denying a two-state solution itself is tantamount to violence, which started right at the beginning of the formation of Israeli state.