Blog

16 march 2013, and so it came to pass

It's nice to be right sometimes, and that seems the case (see 23 january 2013) as bibi finally forms a coalition with the two new forces in israeli politics and, more importantly, without the ultra orthodox parties. The two have boxed clever, and together, to make sure the coming revolution against the deeply-entrenched settlement the haredi have won for themselves over decades is finally reversed. OK, tzipi first was a nice touch, but won't change the fact that she is a don quixote fig leaf who will duly do her job for the next few years, tilting at the windmill of peace to keep the rest of the world just about off israel's back while the government's real business, of fighting back the ultra-orthodox, takes place; and a big battle it will really be. However, with the main opposition labour as much in the camp on this as the government, the chances of success, amazingly, are high. Less so for the peace process, and once again my old comrade-in-arms jonny freedland - sigh - has beat me to it and written the article I wanted to write, with the excellent (if unpithy) headline "you're not a tourist, obama. Go to israel with a message". 46 years of occupation has corroded the soul of the nation he concludes, drawing not on the left, but from the hardest of israel's hard men, the former heads of the security service (the gatekeepers). He also highlights another oscar nominee, 5 broken cameras. Like me, most people I know are strong supporters of the "two state solution", an option that on our watch is tragically slipping away. One of those two states is palestine, and there will never be a secure, jewish and democratic state of israel without a state of palestine. If that sticks in the throat, spent a little time to consider the alternatives.