It is hard to blame the Israeli public if a decadeslong “peace process” has left it apathetic and even cynical about some new round of talks with the Palestinians. It is not too hard to understand why people are more focused on the humdrum annoyances of day-to-day life than on what some newspaper commentator has to say about the long-term damage that the settlement enterprise is causing to Israel’s status internationally. Nevertheless, the gaping yawns provoked by reports about the serious implications of the failure of US Secretary of State John Kerry's initiative are both surprising and worrying. On July 31, I claimed on this very website that Kerry will inform US President Barack Obama next spring that the positions taken by Israel’s right-wing government have hindered any chance to reach a peace arrangement with the Palestinians. By then, Israel is likely to have lost its monopoly on nuclear weapons in the Middle East — according to foreign sources. I also noted that within nine months, “in the spring of 2014, the clouds may open up, offering a convenient opportunity for American or Israeli jets to fly over Iranian airspace.”
About a week ago, Channel 10’s military correspondent Alon Ben David noted the relationship between the current negotiations with the Palestinians and the nuclear threat. In an article that appeared in Haaretz on Aug. 7, Ben David wrote, “The American message to Netanyahu, even if not stated quite so starkly, is this: Sometime in the summer of 2014, Iran will activate its heavy-water reactor in Arak, which can provide it with plutonium for a nuclear bomb. From that moment, the plant cannot be attacked without risking a Chernobyl-like environmental disaster. If the Israelis want backing for an attack on Iran in the summer of 2014, they have to clear the table of the Palestinian issue.” The veteran commentator went on to assess that turning on the Arak reactor would create an irreversible situation in which Iran has nuclear capabilities.