Contrary to opinion polls that predicted centre-left Zionist Union's (Labour party) victory in Tuesday's Israeli elections, Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party has won again. The Zionist Union's emphasis on socio-economic issues appeared to be resonating with the voters; but in the end, Netanyahu's hard-line posture toward the Palestinians, playing up of security fears vis-a-vis Iran and the spread of Islamist groups in the Middle East secured him a record fourth term in office. In a major policy pledge before the Election Day, he said he would go on building settlements on the occupied lands, and that there would be no Palestinian state if he were to be re-elected.
Netanyahu has consistently demonstrated that he has no intention to stop the settlements activity or work towards a two-state solution. For all practical purposes the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has already been dead in the water. It is for the first time, however, that he has publically reneged on his own 2009 approval of a two-state solution. In a way, he has made things easier for the Palestinians. They, of course, never had any illusions about his intentions. Now the Palestinian leadership can move with greater confidence to pursue its plans for international recognition. 135 of the UN's 193 members have already recognised Palestine as a state. In November 2012, the UN General Assembly accorded "non-member observer state" status to the Palestinian 'entity' by an overwhelming majority of vote. Consequently, Palestine is to become a member of the International Criminal Court from April 1, which will allow it to pursue war crimes charges against Israel during 48 years of occupation.
The Europeans are also getting impatient with the stalemated peace process. Last October, Sweden turned out to be the first Western nation to recognise Palestinian statehood. Soon afterwards British parliament passed a motion saying "the government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution" France's lower house of parliament followed suit. Spain and Ireland passed resolutions urging recognition. EU Parliament has also been discussing adoption of a similar common approach. The EU, in fact, is said to be weighing its options, including trade sanctions against Israel for its settlements policy. Those countries and the EU have been holding back on recognition to give peace talks more time. Now that the Israeli leader has openly ruled out both the two-state solution and halting settlements construction, the choice is clear for them. This is happening at a time Netanyahu has made a bad relationship with President Obama worse by attempting to undercut his policy towards Iran. It is worthwhile to recall here that last April US Secretary of State John Kerry remarked in a closed-door meeting that Israel risks becoming an "apartheid state" if the efforts to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians fail. Unsurprisingly, the leaked remark raised a storm of protests within the country, forcing Kerry to issue a statement regretting the use of word "apartheid". It would be more appropriate to say, Israel risks becoming more and more isolated because of its policies.
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