2-13-2014 Pariah Status and Isolation Lie Ahead: The Tide Turns Against Israel - Jonathan Cook Counterpunch

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/13/the-tide-turns-against-israel/

 

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rarely been so politically embattled. His travails indicate the Israeli right’s inability to respond to a shifting political landscape, both in the region and globally….

 

Moreover, powerful elements within the security establishment are financially as well as ideologically invested in the occupation….

There are also vast business profits in the status quo, from hi-tech to resource-grabbing industries. Indications of what is at stake were illuminated recently with the announcement that the Palestinians will have to buy from Israel at great cost two key natural resources – gas and water – they should have in plentiful supply were it not for the occupation.

With these interest groups at his back, a defiant Netanyahu can probably face off the US diplomatic assault this time. But Kerry is not wrong to warn that in the long term yet another victory for Israeli intransigence will prove pyhrrhic.

These negotiations may not lead to an agreement, but they will mark a historic turning-point nonetheless. The delegitimisation of Israel is truly under way, and the party doing most of the damage is the Israeli leadership itself.

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME membe

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