Some day soon, the foreign minister of a major ally may decide to drop an A-bomb on Israel. William Hague and John Kerry have each pointedly left the option open. And Jimmy Carter, of course, has already done it.
This A-bomb isn’t a literal bomb, cooked up beneath the deserts of Iran, but it could be almost as great a threat to the longevity of the Jewish state. This A-bomb is the word apartheid‘I want you to be open and honest and to not leave any hairs on the couch.’
.
Hague is the one who’s sounded the loudest warnings. He has repeatedly insisted that if there isn’t a deal this year that establishes an independent Palestinian state, then Israel’s own future as a both a Jewish state and a democracy is in doubt. If there’s no two-state solution, then Israel will face international isolation as a pariah state that denies rights to up to 2.5 million Arabs. The Foreign Secretary believes Israel has just a few months to negotiate the creation of a Palestinian state before the A-bomb is dropped.
Kerry has been more circumspect. Still, here’s what he told Israeli TV last year: ‘If we do not find a way to find peace, there will be an increasing campaign of delegitimisation of Israel that’s been taking place on an international basis. I’ve got news for you: today’s status quo will not be tomorrow’s.’
The US has been clear about what it would like to see: a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel. And it has set a deadline for talks to produce something: April this year.
The standard international plan for Palestinian/Israeli peace goes something like this. Israel would end its siege of Gaza and leave most of the West Bank, absorbing some settlements but granting other land in return. Those areas would become a Palestinian state, with restricted military capacity but free international borders.
You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it
Two days ago, talk of a 90-day pause on Donald Trump’s ‘recipricoal tariffs’ was branded ‘fake news’ by the White House. This afternoon, the President has confirmed a 90-day pause on the higher tariff rates on all countries apart from China. ‘Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets,
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in