The political and moral issues raised by these actions include Israel's violation of the cease-fire agreement that was in place since November 2012 and whether Israel’s civilian population could have been protected by nonviolent means that would not have placed Gaza’s civilian population at risk. They also include Hamas' willingness to respond in kind - only perpetuating the cycle of violence - and their strategic placement of weapons in civilian areas.
Where, exactly, are Israel’s borders? It is precisely Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to identify those borders that places Israel’s population at risk. And the reason he has refused to do that is because he had not wanted the world to know that he had no intention of honoring the pledge he made in 2009 to reach a two-state agreement with the Palestinians.
But on July 12, as noted in The Times of Israel by its editor, David Horovitz, Netanyahu made clear that he has no interest in a genuine two-state solution. As Horovitz puts it, “the uncertainties were swept aside … And nobody will ever be able to claim in the future that [Netanyahu] didn’t tell us what he really thinks. He made it explicitly clear that he could never, ever, countenance a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank.”
The Road Map for Middle East peace that was signed by Israel, the PLO and the United States explicitly ruled out any unilateral alterations in the pre-1967 armistice lines that served as a border between the parties. This provision was consistently and blatantly violated by successive Israeli governments with their illegal settlement project. And Netanyahu refused to recognize that border as the starting point for territorial negotiations in the terms of reference proposed by Secretary of State John Kerry.
The full article is available here
