While the eyes of the world are turned to Geneva, where efforts are being made to start peace talks towards a meaningful reconciliation between Damascus and the Syrian opposition, Israel is busy making history of its own at the expense of the Palestinians.
At a recent debate in the Knesset about a Labour Party-sponsored bill preventing annexation of any Palestinian territory in a manner not mutually agreed upon by the projected peace accord between the two sides, the Israel parliament voted down the bill by 44 for and 25 against.
This latest Israeli move makes a mockery of the much sought-after two-state solution, bringing its chances of realisation near zero.
This outcome led Israeli opposition leader in the Knesset, Isaac Hertzog, to chastise the members who defeated the draft legislation, telling them: “You are reaching the moment of truth, in which you have to look in the mirror of history and realise that we need to separate from the Palestinians. If we don’t take this opportunity now, history will judge you for turning Israel into an isolated binational state.”
If such modest effort by some Israeli Knesset members to outlaw illegal annexation of Palestinian land failed, what can the Palestinians expect when hard-core issues separating them from the Israelis are put to the ballot?
The result of the vote on this particular issue lends support to the assumption that most Israelis, as shown by their representatives, have yet to reconcile themselves with the notion of two states and all that it entails.
As long as this is the stand taken by the majority of Israelis, US Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempts to broker a lasting peace between the two sides are, unfortunately, doomed to fail.
