Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who won an unexpected victory in the Israeli parliamentary elections held on November 1, is set to re-enter power. In the 120-seat Knesset, Netanyahu’s Likud party won 32 of its own seats and 64 including its allies. With this, Israel’s recent election series has come to a temporary halt. After the elections held in April and September 2019, then in March 2020 and lastly in March 2021, the governments that came to power soon resigned after not having a majority. Disagreements eventually reduced the number of members to 59 in April, and in June a joint agreement dissolved the Knesset, with Yair Lapid remaining as caretaker prime minister. This election was held after that.
Netanyahu, who is considered to be the kingpin of Israeli politics, won a fairly good majority with solid support from right-wing and conservative groups. In his long political career spanning the nineties, he became prime minister in 1996 – the first prime minister born after the creation of the State of Israel. Netanyahu was the youngest Prime Minister of the country. He also holds the title of being the longest serving Prime Minister with the new position. Power was not always secure. Although often mired in serious corruption allegations, even his opponents will admit that Netanyahu has the skills to survive it all and rise to new positions. Since 1996, Wana has been the Prime Minister three times on different fronts and only this time he is getting a little better support.
It is true that the world pays attention to Israeli Prime Ministers only when it comes to foreign policy. Half of their domestic policy is about relations with the world’s Arabs. One-fifth of the country’s population is Arab. Even those who believe that the country will be more stable, secure and progressive under Netanyahu do not expect any sympathetic change of attitude on the issue of the Arab lands occupied by Israel. Often there is no possibility of it becoming more intense.
The external threats that Israel often cites as the cause of excessive militarization do not exist today. Iran today is more preoccupied with domestic affairs. In foreign relations, the main issue behind them is reviving the nuclear deal signed by the United States and the European Union in 2015 after Donald Trump canceled it – because of the sanctions that exist in its name. Israel has peace agreements with neighboring Egypt and Jordan that are almost seamless. Among the Arab states themselves, there are normal relations with the UAE and Bahrain under the peace treaty in American testimony called the Abraham Accords. More with Morocco and Sudan. The Abraham Accords are generally a program of establishing normal relations by agreeing to minor concessions on the issue of land acquisition.
But what about Netanyahu’s new approach to dealing with Arabs in Israel and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, which are the autonomous regions of Palestine? Will he continue the same old pattern of bloodying internal protests by shooting and shelling? Netanyahu’s is not the path to peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is very likely that more construction works will take place that will strengthen Israel’s presence in the Arab-occupied region. While Jerusalem is recognized as Israel’s capital by more countries, international interest in making East Jerusalem the capital of a proposed Palestinian state is blocked. With allies who do not accept in principle the existence of two independent states in the region, the prospects for peace will fade again. In short, Netanyahu’s ascension to power does not bode well for peace in West Asia.