Feb 22 2015
Unity Is Needed as Palestinians Wait
By Daoud Kuttab
As the Palestinian-Israeli conflict awaits Israeli elections, a number of important local and international developments are taking place that could have a long-reach effect on it.
Israeli elections, set for March 17, have all but frozen all efforts to move the stalled peace process. U.S. officials, as well as their European counterparts, have made clear that they will not allow any endeavour at the UN or at any other international forum until the Israeli public makes up its mind about whether it wants Benjamin Netanyahu to continue as its leader.
Netanyahu is embroiled in an unprecedented public conflict with the White House in regard to the Iranian negotiations, which are also due to reach their climax by the end of March.
In the absence of political developments, a number of important processes are taking place with which whoever is elected in Israel will need to deal. Two major changes being cooked behind the scenes have to do with the boycott movement and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The efforts to boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) Israel received a number of big prizes recently. More than 700 UK-based artists have signed a petition announcing that they will boycott Israel and Israeli cultural events. In the U.S., students at the prestigious Stanford University voted 10-1-4 to initiate BDS against Israel. Continue Reading »