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February 6, 2009
As Gaza slowly emerges from the rubble Israel's election process indicates that it has swung to the right. It looks as if Benjamin Netanyahu may well be Israel's next prime minister with a coalition of Likud-Lieberman-Shas-National Union and Habayit Hayehudi. That means Israel will stand for occupation, more settlements, the destruction of Hamas, opposition to the peace process, no two state solution and confrontation with a fanatical Iran. No compromise.
Stavro
That would place a rightwing Israel on a collision course with the Obama administration, which has said that it wants to make progress on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and he also wants to pursue a diplomatic engagement with Iran. Will the Obama administration get tough with Israel's colonial expansion that has made the two-state solution increasingly impossible.
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Either the Obama administration keeps a lid on Israel, or Netanyahu becomes for Israel what Bush Jr was for the US.
Until Lateline last night I didn't know Bush Snr threatened to withdraw support for Israel unless they calmed down.
A lot of progress has been made under the radar in the past couple of weeks, but probably not enough to get anything lasting in place before Israel's elections. It's not looking too good for anyone.