RAMALLAH: Senior Fatah official Muhammed Ishtayeh recently told AP that Palestine will be subject to apartheid should Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu be reelected, reports Ma'an News. Ishtayeh is an aid to Mahmoud Abbas and has quoted the Palestinian Premiere as saying that if Israeli Settlements continue in the occupied West Bank, it would render the two-state solution impossible. The result would be “...an apartheid style state, similar to the one of former South Africa,” he said. Abbas continues to warn against the annexation of the Palestinian populace, as it would be “against the Israeli interests because…we Palestinians will be the majority and will struggle for equality.” Ishtayeh continued by saying the Palestinian Authority still believes the two state solution is possible, but Netanyahu and his current right-wing coalition are extinguishing any chance left. The coalition “will be intensifying the buildings in the settlements, and they have no peace platform.” Israeli elections and settlements On 22 January, Netanyahu's Likud party is set to win another majority in the Israeli Knesset, forming a coalition with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, formerly headed by settler Avigdor Liberman. Netanyahu is currently running a campaign that appeals directly to ultra-nationalist settler sentiment. He was recently quoted as saying “...I do not volunteer concessions...We have not uprooted any settlement, we made settlements stronger”, Maariv newspaper reports. Although he vocalized his commitment to a two state solution in 2009, Netanyahu maintains that Palestinians should come to peace talks without preconditions. The freezing of settlements is paramount to the return of the Palestinian Authority to the negotiation table.
Netanyahu froze settlements in 2009 in order to restart the peace process, but has been unwilling to do so again. Moshe Feiglin, a far-right settler likely to win a Likud seat in January, was recently quoted as saying “...every Arab family in Judea and Samaria can be given an incentive of half a million dollars to encourage their emigration to a place where they will find a better future.” Peace Now recently released a report documenting settlement activity under the past four years of the Netanyahu government. The report details 6,867 planned settlements to be located east of the separation wall's planned route and a record number of tenders issued for new settlements.
All settlements are viewed as illegal by the international community.
