Amid efforts to save the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the chairman of the HaBayit HaYehudi Party, Minister of Economy and Trade Naftali Bennett, informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 10 that if Arab Israeli prisoners were released within the framework of the deal, his faction would immediately leave the governing coalition. That’s typical of the Middle East: Every time you think you've reached the height of the commotion or the bottom of the pit, it turns out there’s another summit ahead, or alternatively, there’s still more digging to be done. Netanyahu now knows that if the negotiations are spared, his coalition will not be. It remains uncertain whether the recently appointed chairman of the Labor Party, Isaac (Buji) Herzog, will agree to replace HaBayit HaYehudi in the government. It would therefore be interesting to find out what Netanyahu’s motivation might be to keep resuscitating the negotiations cadaver.
The big question is, what does Netanyahu really want? Are his statements to the effect that a two-state solution is imperative for Israel’s demographic future merely lip service or does he really believe this thesis? Is his commitment to the negotiations earnest or is it a cynical and political game of survival in which Netanyahu is leading the Americans, the Palestinians and chiefly his justice minister, Tzipi Livni, by the nose and all he wants is to buy time so that he can continue clinging to the premiership?