Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brought Israel to a position of power vis-à-vis the Palestinians. Imagine that a tripartite announcement by US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz would actually come about in Washington. What a boost that would be ahead of any future political steps.
Instead, lawmakers plan to betray the prime minister who blazed a trail for policy opportunities the likes of which we haven't seen since the days of iconic general and statesman Yigal Allon.
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We know enough about the proposal that Trump plans to roll out later on Tuesday to know that it largely reflects late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's vision, which he outlined in the Knesset merely a month before his assassination and which calls for the Jordan Valley and the large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria to come under Israeli sovereignty, and for a united Jerusalem.
But those pretending to be the heirs of Allon and Rabin seek to ambush the prime minister in parliament instead of giving him their full backing and blessing.
On the one hand, we have Netanyahu, who is promoting a groundbreaking national agenda, while on the other hand, we have the petty politics of Blue and White and its allies, who seek to sabotage this diplomatic move. Labor leader Amir Peretz's protest, calling on Trump not to unveil the plan at this time because it would interfere with the upcoming elections was nothing short of pathetic.
Should it even be mentioned that in 2001, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who by that time had resigned and was backed by a minority government tried to all but give away the entire Zionist vault during the Taba negotiations – which took place just before the election?
That was a concession competition aimed at formulating what would have been a dangerous peace deal, which also included the introduction of an untold number of Palestinian refugees into Israel. Barak's plan was meant to introduce an agreement on Election Day and allow then-US President Bill Clinton to retire with a political legacy of having forged peace in the Middle East.
Fast forward 20 years, and from the political abyss of the Oslo Accords and of the Camp David, Taba, and Annapolis negotiations, Netanyahu seeks to seize a rare opportunity to reshape the 1967 borders in a similar way to how the 1947 borders were reshaped following the War of Independence.
All the negotiations pursued from Oslo onwards were conducted from a staggering position of weakness by leaders who did not believe in a strong Israel. These were frantic negotiations, chasing the desire to produce another1990s-style signing on the White House lawn.
Netanyahu is currently presenting something foreign to Israeli generals-turned-politicians: Strategic patience.
This has placed him – in coordination with the American president and most likely with Russian President Vladimir Putin – in a position of power, all while the Arab states remain silent and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas offers nothing but curses and condemnations.
Netanyahu has already removed the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian equation. Applying Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley will remove another part of the equation PLO fanatics see as their statehood goal.
With such a clear agenda, the Israeli public should know who is really capable of leading it. But at this point, one has to wonder how much the electorate, in general, cares about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Some right-wing pundits are certain that the right thing for the Likud to do is to push the government to apply Israeli sovereignty over everything offered in the deal, i.e. the Jordan Valley and the large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria.
On Monday, former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff (res.) Democratic Union MK Yair Golan said Gantz was a moderate – not a leader who would spearhead bold initiatives.
But the moderates can by far be the most dangerous: They are unable to implement any plan except one – undercutting the elected leader.
