Netanyahu not in listening mode

(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Yitzhak Herzog, the Israeli Labour leader, recently warned that Jordanian-Israeli bilateral relations have reached an all-time low over not only the row over the killing of two Jordanians at the Israeli embassy last July at the hands of an Israeli security guard but also over the recent disturbing and ominous developments on Jerusalem in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decisions to recognise the holy city as the capital of Israel and relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

These events were followed by the Israeli Knesset decision making ceding any part of Jerusalem to the Palestinians virtually impossible, and aggravated even more by the recent decision of Israel to construct 1,122 new settlement units in the West Bank over and above the decision to float tenders for 651 additional settler units on Palestinian soil.

Herzog, the opposition Israel leader, has therefore issued a stern warning that unless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu changes course on the Palestinian conflict and fast, there could be an irreversible damage to the "strategic" relations between the two countries.

Herzog, a seasoned Israeli politician, knows what he is talking about since Jordanian-Israeli relations have truly descended to the point where the two countries are barely on talking terms much less able to address jointly regional developments that threaten regional security and stability.

Of course, Netanyahu and his ruling Likud Party are not in a listening mode no matter how dire is the relationship between Jordan and Israel.

The big loser is, of course, Israel itself as it finds itself isolated on every front internationally and regionally.

Only new elections in Israel would be able to offer the Israeli people new opportunities to wage peace with the Palestinian people and in turn with Jordan and other Arab countries which had committed themselves to total and full peace with Israel on the basis of the 2002 Arab summit initiative for peace. The sooner this happens the closer Israel and the Arab world would become to peace and security.

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