The Prime Minister of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to deliver his much anticipated speech on peace policy in about an hour. REKA Israel writes that Netanyahu speech is expected to focus on Iran, agree on road map and continue West Bank building. However, according to Jerusalem Post Defense Minister Ehud Barak sought to downplay expectations about Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech to be delivered at Bar-Ilan University.
REKA Israel reports on Netanyahu speech expectations.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is due to start speaking at Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, at 8:10 Sunday evening and will speak for 25 minutes. There has been lots of speculation but nothing official on the exact wording of the prime minister's address. According to most commentators the following is what we can expect.
There may still be no explicit endorsement of the two-state solution. Instead, the prime minister is expected to reiterate that the government of Israel is committed to agreements signed by previous governments, including the road map peace plan of 2003, which calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state at the end of a process during which interim steps must be taken by both sides.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has already said that the government is committed to previous agreements . Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also made a similar commitment the day he took over at the Foreign Ministry. In the handover speech he stated clearly that the government was not committed to the Annapolis process, which had never been endorsed by the cabinet, but was committed to the road map plan.
It is also expected that Netanyahu will list a series of restrictions on the powers of a future Palestinian state -- the most important being no army. This is what is referred to as the Andorra model, based on the tiny state in the Pyrenees mountains, sandwiched between France and Spain, which is fully sovereign but has no army.
While backing the road map may be a compromise that both the United States Obama administration and the right-wing elements in the coalition can live with, the question of settlements may be a harder nut to crack.
Washington has already ruled out all the Israeli overtures aimed at a compromise based on continuing construction in order to accomodate natural growth. President Barack Obama's administration will be satisfied with nothing less than a total freeze on settlement construction.
It is unlikely that the current coalition would be able to survive such a dramatic policy shift. Most commentators speculate that on this issue there will be no significant change and therefore the current differences of opinion between Jerusalem and Washington are expected to continue, if not intensify, over the coming months.
There will of course be other elemernts in the speech, but probably not much new. For example, a call for the immediate resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, a call on the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and so on.
The focus of the speech will probably be on the Iranian threat, particularly given that it comes so close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory.
Two additional points to look out for are if the prime minister addresses the stalled peace track with Syria and indicates a willingness to resume negotiations, and if any mention is made of the Arab League peace initiative as a basis for negotiations.
Interior Minisrter Eli Yishai (Shas leader) predicted that the speech will be very general in nature focusing on the theme of peace with security.
The Palestinian Authority has already indicated that they will not resume peace talks without an Israeli commitment to a two-state solution and a cessation of all settlement construction.
Senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday morning that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not interested in negotiations on the final status issues, that he remains opposed to a two-state solution and building will continue in the West Bank.
Exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal predicted that the Israeli prime minister will make statements on a settlement construction freeze but in practise will continue.
By REKA Israel
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