The consensus around solving a conflict and delivering lasting peace has been generally associated with left-leaning policies, such as land swaps and significant ideological compromises in the name of a utopian society. However, there have been numerous examples in recent decades where conservative values have achieved meaningful milestones, typically relying on financial cooperation and mutually beneficial endeavors rather than tearing apart one side’s agenda. This tract is most evident in Israel’s recent Abraham Accords that have delivered, what seems to be, a long-lasting sustainable relationship with many of its Arab neighbors based less on real estate and more on economic and security partnerships.
The most significant issue that remains unsolved for many is how will the Likud-led government, partnered with the most right-wing fringe parties in Israel, resolve the Palestinian issue. The challenge is to offer a solution that will not compromise on the current coalition's agenda that calls for full sovereignty over the land of Israel while greatly improving the lives of Palestinians.
Netanyahu signaled clearly that it is extremely unlikely Israel and the Palestinians will make measurable progress toward a long-term peace anytime soon. https://t.co/9fNeoNzX00
— CNN International (@cnni) February 1, 2023
Many observers of Israeli politics would be surprised to learn that Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party are closer to achieving a lasting regional peace than any other government in Israeli history, including the left-leaning ones led by 'the Peacemakers' Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. While the Rabin government of the 1990s portrayed an image of who brought peace with the Palestinians through the Oslo Accords, 30 years of unrest and bloodshed between the Zionist state and numerous Palestinian terrorist organizations are evidence of that not working out as advertised.
Netanyahu has taken a different approach from his predecessors in office and has realized that a peace agreement can not simply be words on a document, but must be felt and achieved in the citizens' daily lives. In other words, it is not the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, or even the Jihad that Israel must make peace with, but the residents of Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus, and Bethlehem.
@netanyahu: Israel is engaged in a battle against extremist Islamic elements led by the Iranian regime and cannot rely on the Palestinian Authority.https://t.co/MniULhG10P
— Jewish News Syndicate (@JNS_org) February 8, 2023
Instead of arguing with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on funds they demand in exchange for temporary forbearance, the Likud-led Knesset is going straight to the Arab residents, seeking to deliver a stable economy along with law and order that various Palestinian leaders have so terribly neglected. For example, Nablus’s dying soap industry could surely use a large-scale makeover through funds allocated by Israel; the reconstruction of a stable industry with a longtime history in the city would surely help the hard-working people of the city sustain their peaceful daily livelihood. It is only through the complacency of the average citizens that the minority which takes up arms can operate. Giving the earnest Palestinian citizens what their government failed to provide will go a long way towards starving the terrorists of the popular support they need to survive.
Although the soap industry makeover is just an example, the new right-wing government has been showing signs of restoring peace and order to Arab dominant regions using the economy as leverage; and the Arab communities of Israel are certainly aware. An internal poll conducted by the Joint Arab List just before the previous elections showed that the Likud was expected to gain close to two mandates (1.6) worth of votes from the Israeli-Arab sector; that is more than any other Jewish-led party has or likely will ever get.
Another example of how Israeli right-wingers are aiding the Arab communities comes from Itamar Ben Gvir, who has been portrayed as the most extreme, racist, and xenophobic member of Israel’s new coalition. During a Knesset vote back in 2021 to build a modern hospital in the northern Israeli-Arab city of Sachnin using Israeli funds, Ben Gvir surprised the entire room by voting in favor. The hospital not only serves the Arab -Israeli community but also as a healthcare facility for Arabs in Samaria who are often neglected by the Palestinian Authority's underfunded system. “For years I have been saying that I have no problem with Arabs as Arabs, and I have no problem establishing a hospital in Sachnin," Ben Gvir clarified in a later interview.
Along with the Abraham Peace Accords, the expected normalization with Saudi Arabia, and even unconfirmed conversations of talks with Syrian and Lebanese leaders, the Palestinian Authority seems to be losing a grip on reality; which brings us back to the initial question of how Netanyahu plans on making peace with the PA. The answer is he does not plan on making peace with them at all, the very opposite is true. Through undermining the corrupt various leading organizations in Palestinian politics today, who have lost the trust of their governed residents, Netanyahu will give the opportunity to Arabs both in the PA territories and Israel to bring up their genuine concerns and what is necessary for solving them.
Under @MahmoudAbbass's presidency, the Palestinian Authority has become autocratic and has ceased to function as the presumed basis for a Palestinian state. A failed transition could trigger PA violence or even collapse ( @CrisisGroup )@Palestine_UN @palestine @netanyahu pic.twitter.com/UKcITmFICa
— Partai Republik (@Samuder53291026) February 1, 2023
Practical peace is coming and its functionality would not only greatly benefit all sides, but also show the world how a utopian society is really achieved; mutual understanding rather than mutual compromise.
