In the aftermath of the March 17 Israeli elections, one can read many assessments about the international community taking steps to isolate the next Benjamin Netanyahu government (especially given the rift between Washington and Jerusalem), and acting in favor of establishing a Palestinian state. Yet it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not terribly concerned about such eventualities; his election hubris has not faded.
A source close to Netanyahu spoke to Al-Monitor about the prime minister's view of his next term. The premier, according to the source, is confident that he can steer Israel away from what he considers dangers — first and foremost the establishment of a Palestinian state. While he understands the depth of the crisis with President Barack Obama — whom he views as a left-wing liberal, naive and weak — he assumes that he will get along better with the next president (possibly from the Bush or Clinton families).
According to the source, Netanyahu plans to discreetly renew the dialogue with the US administration, passing on a message that, regarding the Iran agreement, he will content himself to play a rigorous and critical monitoring role. In parallel, he believes that an American veto on a Palestinian statehood resolution is a given. He trusts Israel's friends in Congress to pressure Obama in this direction.
Indeed, it seems that Netanyahu has a personal disdain for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and believes that he is dependent on Israel for internal security vis-a-vis Hamas and the Palestinian economy. Netanyahu apparently plans to play a divide-and-conquer strategy in the region; he believes that the Arabs are split between fanatic terrorists and weak authoritarian regimes, and that Israel can fight the former and create utilitarian alliances with the latter — be it Egypt or Jordan. The Palestinian problem is, in his eyes, a reflection of the inner Arab power struggle — Israel must fight Hamas while assuring that the vulnerable Abbas depends on it. A future Palestinian state, he estimates, would be taken over by Hamas. As such, a state will instantly become a place where only the language of force is understood. We have seen in the past that predicaments of occupation and human rights occupy little place within his mental lexicon.
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