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there was an edito in haaretz a few days ago that made similar arguments.
the central claim wasn't that far from the logic behind the statement from the arab league about the prospect of a netanyahu prime ministership--at least the right will say no to your face....but the edito took it in a different direction. the claim was that the way to look at this is as a matter of "leadership"---the reality is, it continued, that a 2-state solution to the present conflicts over palestine is more or less inevitable. if that's the case, then it follows that something has to be done about the settlements in the west bank. (and this is not to get into the related question of jerusalem, which is critical but obviously terribly complicated..the quartet proposal of making a kind of international space of jerusalem seems to me interesting, but that's for down the road).
the edito then rehearsed some of the same points you make, sticky--that it was the right that dismantled the settlements in gaza, that it was the right was was willing to take the risk involved with doing that. which is a way of seeing all this.
what seems clear is that the logic of the Situation is heading toward a confrontation over the settlements. most of the more brutal aspects of the occupation---particularly if you consider the restrictions of movement and everyday harrassment of palestinians to be a form of brutality, which i do--and much of the extreme right political base is linked to the settlements.
i think that israel damaged itself significantly with the gaza adventure.
one variable that's not yet clear is what the exact line(s) is (are) that the obama administration will adopt--the early indications are that it is moving toward a more regionally oriented approach, including making approaches toward changing the relation with syria---which indicates that at the least the passive days of whatever the right wants goes insofar as the united states is concerned are over.
so it's not unreasonable to think that maybe the situation is not as grim as it appears.
on the other side, there's the nature of the rightwing coalition itself and the repellent figure of netanyahu himself...but he'll noit be in a position of particular stength in the context of the coalition that appears to be taking shape.
that's what the situation looks like to me at the moment.
i'm not particularly interested in optimism or pessimism as metaphysical constructs--which is why i said i am waiting to see how things shake out---but again, this is how things look this afternoon.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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