“We’re pretty sure [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s ship has sailed,” said the senior diplomat. “Do you have any idea where he’s heading?” the man asked. “Is the prime minister really planning to advance toward a two-state solution?”
I answered that I wasn’t sure whether Netanyahu himself could answer his question because as far as I know, the prime minister himself has not decided where he wants to take the negotiations with the Palestinians. But, I added, the more interesting question in my mind is not what Bibi wants to do about the conflict, but what he can do. Even if the concerns he has been expressing recently about Israel turning into a binational state are valid, it appears that his horses have bolted. It is highly doubtful whether the Likud party organs — from the Knesset faction to the party’s central assembly — would have even voted nowadays in favor of Israel’s Declaration of Independence. In fact, how many Knesset members from the right wing of the coalition believe in the article that promises “complete equality to all citizens,” including Arab citizens? How many of them support freedom of “religion, conscience, language, education and culture, regardless of religion, race and sex?”