Ben Hartman is a reporter for Israel's Jerusalem Post. We asked him how the Palestinian Authority's bid for statehood at the UN is viewed amongst Israelis.
In an ideal world, would most Israelis like to live next door to a functioning Palestinian state?
In poll after poll a majority of Israelis have answered that they support a two-state solution and would be willing to live next door to a peaceful Palestinian state. Pretty much across the board Israelis are quite skeptical that a Palestinian state would be peaceful or functioning. Even among those who support a two-state solution the feeling that such a solution is only the first step for Palestinians in dissolving the Jewish state is quite common.
If, like you said, in a perfect world a Palestinian state could be established in the West Bank and Gaza that would be peaceful, thriving, and an ally and neighbor of Israel, I believe the majority of Israelis would be willing to make the concessions needed to ensure such a situation.
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Are most Israelis prepared for their government to make concessions on this? What would Israelis accept, and not accept?
Biblical promises and interpretations of Zionist aspirations are relative and in the eye of the beholder. The one concept that any Israel can relate to is security. There is a real, legitimate fear that if a Palestinian state is established in the West Bank and Palestinians are in charge of security throughout the West Bank we could see a situation like in Gaza (after the Israeli withdrawal) where the area becomes a launching pad for missile strikes against the Israeli home front and a staging ground for guerilla raids inside the Green Line… That said, the Palestinian Authority has done a commendable job policing the areas of the West Bank where they are in charge of security.
Another very sensitive issue is the division of Jerusalem. Time and again it has proven to be a serious sticking point in negotiations, and retaining sovereignty over all of Jerusalem is something that Israelis seem very reluctant to give up on. At the same time, (in my own personal opinion) when you go to the Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem, it's very apparent that you are not in Israel anymore, even if that's not technically the case on paper.
For Israelis who would like to see a two-state solution, what do they think of these moves by the PA to go to the UN with this bid?
Well, I believe on the Israeli left there is some support for this move, but most people who support the two-state solution believe it should occur as the result of direct negotiations, not unilateral steps. Part of this is the legacy of the Gaza withdrawal - Israel pulled out unilaterally without any agreement and was met with a Hamas-run entity that began launching rocket attacks on southern Israel and became what many view as an Iranian proxy state on Israel's southern border.
Do populations in different parts of Israel feel differently about a Palestinian state and this push in particular?
There's basically no such thing as an Israeli consensus on any issue really. The society is very fractured, not just politically, but also religiously, ethnically, culturally, etc. You would see significantly more support for the UN bid in Tel Aviv than you would say in Jerusalem, but not just Jerusalem or West Bank settlements, even in Tel Aviv suburbs or working-class neighborhoods you would be met by a good deal more cynicism than in the stereotypical Tel Aviv left-wing crowd.
It's hard to say about Israeli Arabs, but they more and more these days feel Palestinian and I believe it would be safe to say that they are hoping that the UN bid passes and that they feel for their brothers in the West Bank and want an end to the occupation. I don't believe that they think the UN bid will change the situation of Arabs in Israel proper though.
What is the sense there about this being Fatah's push? Is it fair to say most Israelis have more faith/trust in Fatah's motives than Hamas, who are not supporting this bid?
Fatah would certainly be the lesser of two evils in Israeli eyes, but I don't know if that's saying a great deal. Most Israelis believe that Fatah at the end of the day would also like to have all of Israel for the Palestinian people (the proverbial 'they want to push us into the sea' sentiment)…. There is still the feeling though that even if Fatah is pushing a two-state solution, they'll never really accept Israel as a Jewish state or a part of this region.
Netanyahu has blamed his right-wing coalition partners for holding him back on concession-making in the past – how does this go down amongst the Israeli mainstream?
Israel's coalition-building parliamentary system is a serious problem for any politician seeking to affect widespread change of any sort in Israel. I don't think it's very accurate to blame this on Yisrael Beitenu, after all, there are people in Netanyahu's own Likud party that work against his concession-making. It's easy to blame the far-right parties, but there hasn't been a great deal of daring diplomatic initiative on the part of Netanyahu's own party or the left for that matter.
Netanyahu has been fairly robust in the face of the most (on the surface - and until last week) pro-Palestinian US president in a few years – has he won domestic points for this in Israel?
Anytime Netanyahu goes to America and 'stands up' to Obama or gets greeted like a conquering gladiator in the U.S. Congress it scores him some points at home. There is a rather common sentiment or feeling of insecurity in Israel that we are seen as a 'Banana Republic' of the U.S., or as a country that's being told what to do or bossed around by Washington. Situations like Bibi (recently) slamming Obama's speech while sitting next to Obama are popular with a lot of Israelis who see it as 'standing up' to an American president 'who is abandoning an ally'.
To what degree is there a sense of weariness/unease about the reliance in Israel on the US alliance, particularly in relation to this issue?
There is a rather common sentiment in Israel that the U.S. or the international community interfere far too much in the conflict and don't just let Israel handle it on their own. At the same time, Israelis know how important U.S. assistance is, not only the yearly aid package, but also the diplomatic support in the international arena and also in terms of instances like in Cairo two weeks ago, when mobs ransacked the embassy and Cairo was not taking Netanyahu calls. His only option was to pick up the phone and call Obama and the embassy staff were rescued. They [Israelis] do not have the rosiest view of the checkered history of U.S.-brokered peace deals. So there is some resentment at times.
