Naftali Bennett was interviewed by the FT this week and said out loud what we know has been the Israeli right's position for decades. The FT article: Israeli Minister calls for ‘new models’ instead of Palestinian state
Mr Bennett, whose party gets its support from “national religious” Zionists, including the half million people living in Israeli settlements, says he favours annexing the parts of the West Bank Israel already fully controls and giving Palestinians limited autonomy elsewhere.
The only thing surprising here is that Naftali is saying this out loud. It has pretty much been the stance of Likud and its founders since they arrived in Palestine. It's been the driving force behind expulsions of Palestinians and territorial wars for 60+ years now.
"Limited autonomy" and "annexations" are the reason so many "peace talks" have come to naught. When someone's nibbling away at the cake, it's naive to believe they want to cut it fairly.
Naftali's Jewish Home party is even further to the right of Likud but he might become PM if an election were held today since the political drift in Israel is ever rightward. Bennett says the relentless IDF bombing of Gaza this summer, destruction of homes with families inside and the death of 500 Palestinian children has "prompted a rightward shift" in Israel. Should that be translated as mission accomplished?
“The logic that the world will love us if we give up more land doesn’t work,” Mr Bennett said. “Now the Israeli public realises it; I hope that gradually, world leaders and the world will come to understand that everything we thought until now about the notion of a Palestinian state next to Israel is inapplicable.”
I didn't realize the two-state solution was about loving Israel rather than the right to self-determination and ending a brutal military occupation. But then I still believe in equal rights for all.
PS. The comments section of the FT article is almost like Gamergate, except the vitriol is being spewed over religious fantasies rather than nerdy video-game ones.