If you think part two will be an improvement, think again. Israel's new prime minister has learned nothing from his decade out of power, writes Assem El-Kersh Just what we needed! We thought he was gone for good but no, out from the shadows Benyamin Netanyahu has popped up, reincarnated as Israeli prime minister. As though Israel needs more extremism, stubbornness and racism, to be reminded of the exigencies of brutality and seizing land, or any further encouragement to surrender to the pressures of the ultra right and the babble of religious parties. Could it be that the volatile climate generated by Israel's recent elections and its assault on Gaza can produce only politicians of this sort, professional killers, experts in the arts of procrastination, breaking promises, reneging on agreements and eternally renegotiating the conditions for negotiating? Netanyahu has spent 10 years away from his favourite seat. During that time he swung between opposition, voluntary retirement and the Ministry of Finance. He hasn't changed one iota. He presents the same package with the same contents -- arrogance, vanity, hatred for Arabs and contempt for peace. He has lost none of his extraordinary talent for lies and fabrication. Not that Israel has changed either. There is the same madness, paranoia, siege mentality, vengefulness, thirst for domination, the same limitless ability to wriggle out of any political or moral obligation in a region that seems forever fated to be prey to contradictions, divisions and ambitions. Towards the end of last week Israeli President Shimon Peres sent for his former rival, Netanyahu, and asked him to form a new government. It was a moment when thousands predicted the Middle East was headed for catastrophe. Such predictions were quickly reinforced by the realisation that there was no hope Netanyahu had learned anything at all from his earlier experiences. The statements he made during the election campaign were identical to those he made during his first stab at being Israel's prime minister, word for word, the operative one being no: "no" to negotiations over Jerusalem, "no" to freezing settlement construction, "no" to withdrawing from the occupied territories and the Golan Heights, and, of course, "no" to the existence of Hamas or a two-state solution. These are the positions he tried to force on everyone during his three years in power (1996-1999), leading to repeated clashes with the Palestinians, Egypt and the US. They are the same shabby and timeworn ideas he has packed into the suitcase he'll be taking back with him into office, as if determined to prove that his old formula -- evading peace, hiding behind the scratched record of "security needs" -- is the sole guarantor of Israel's survival (and, of course, his own survival in power). To be fair there is one item in there that does not have the same old musty smell. It goes by the name of "economic peace", a programme Netanyahu claims will improve the circumstances of Palestinians as long as they behave themselves and accept his version of the untrammelled free market. What this really means is that he is willing to throw some scraps into Palestinian cantons that get smaller by the day, scraps that will form part of a diet approved in Tel Aviv. Here are his exact words: "The Palestinians will have all the powers necessary to enjoy self-government, but none of the powers to undermine the security of the State of Israel." It is in the promotion of such ambiguities that he thinks the keys to negotiations lie. Anyone familiar with Netanyahu's games will quickly see through what he is offering, a deal to rebuild the Palestinian economy in return for Palestinian amnesia. In Netanyahu's book this means that Palestinians must forget they ever had a national cause, a land of their own and a dream of statehood. They can have a marching band that plays a national anthem furtively, a football team that receives its training in back alleyways and is prohibited from scoring goals, and a presidential plane that cannot take off without permission from Tel Aviv. More importantly, they will have to have all wings and nails clipped, stop reproducing and, preferably, disappear! Not only is "Bibi", as his friends call him, the same as ever, to make matters worse, now that the Kadima and Labour parties have turned down his invitation to join him in a coalition government headed by himself he has been forced to turn to parties even further to the right than his own, namely Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu. To persuade these to join him in any coalition he will have to bribe them by capitulating to their own political demands, cramping what little flexibility even he might have had towards the frozen peace process. He will be propelled along a collision course with a new US administration that seems keen to get the negotiating ball rolling again towards a two-state solution. Netanyahu remains haunted by his defeat in the 1999 elections when, under pressure from President Clinton, he made concessions that angered his ultra right coalition partners who turned against him, handing victory to his Labour Party rival. That happened to be Ehud Barak, who sipped from the same bitter cup two weeks ago as the Labour Party was sent into opposition despite the horrific display of military muscle that Barak thought might salvage his electoral fortunes. We know from Netanyahu's first stint in government that no one can bear conceit. To Hamas he is the most extreme and dangerous of all Israeli leaders. Washington knows he is difficult to deal with, to the extent that President Clinton once remarked that Netanyahu thinks he is the leader of the greatest power on earth. Hardly any wonder, then, that Livni and Barak refused to join his government. Nor can Egypt's experience with him be said to have been happy. Cairo is not alone among Arab capitals stunned by the prospect of a Netanyahu premiership. Yet we know from experience there is no such thing as a dovish Israeli leader. They have all ranged from hawks to more hawkish, from hardliners to even harder-line, from bad to worse. After Netanyahu's first premiership came Barak, Sharon and Olmert. Before that we had to deal with Peres, Rabin, Shamir and Begin. Then there was Meir, Eshkol, Ben-Gurion and Sharett. They are all cast from the same mould, the only difference being one of degree in their fanaticism and wile. Which begs the question why people are wringing their hands at the return of Netanyahu. What should really worry us is that whenever there is an election, whether in Israel or the US, we remain true to our old Arab custom -- waiting for what fate hands us without showing any ability to alter its course. Sadly, it seems that -- like Netanyahu -- we haven't changed. We are no stronger. We have not learned any lessons from our dealings with him in the past. We were completely unprepared for his return. In 10 years we have failed to remedy our flaws. We have not moved an inch forward or liberated a square foot of land. If there is anything worse than Netanyahu and the dangerous brew of fundamentalist closed-mindedness, hardcore rejectionists, ethnic chauvinists and haters of everything Arab then it is surely our own condition: our lack of commitment, our petty squabbles, and the free gifts we keep sending to Israel, helping it grow stronger as we grow weaker. Netanyahu's second act is about to begin. Head for the nearest bomb shelter!
