A leading supporter and important critic of Israel agree: Time for a two-state solution is running out

By Paul Goodman
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As ever in these affairs, there is more to William Hague's summoning of Israel's Ambassador over the Netanyahu Government's settlement building decision and withholding of Palestine Authority tax revenue than meets the eye.  There is also more to the decisions of Israel's Government than might meet the eye.

The Foreign Secretary was sympathetic to Israel during its recent hostilities with Hamas.  Britain also abstained in the UN General Assembly vote to recognise Palestine as a non-member state.  The Government regards the West Bank as illegally occupied territory, and will take the chance to remind Israel critics that it sometimes joins them.

Mr Netanyahu and his Cabinet will have wanted to send a message to the world after the overwhelming UN vote for recognition, since it takes the view that the Palestinian decision to apply for membership was a provocation.  But it will neither want to collapse the P.A nor alienate other countries completely: Israel's Prime Minister will also be guarding his right flank.

I'm grateful to the Conservative Middle East's Council's daily list of must-read articles for one which puts these recent events in perspective.  Alan Dershowitz is one of Israel's leading supporters in the United States.  Peter Beinart is one of its best-known critics - the author of "The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment" and "The Crisis of Zionism.

Open thread on Israel's elections

8.45pm: Exit polls point to narrow win for Kadima.

The BBC reporter analysing the elections recommended talks with Hamas during the Annual BBC Correspondents' Look Ahead.

7.30am on 11th February: "Both Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party and Binyamin Netanyahu's opposition Likud styled themselves the winners of Tuesday's elections, after it became apparent that Kadima had won the most seats in the new Knesset, but the Likud-led right-wing would constitute the larger bloc. With 99.7 percent of the votes counted by 7:00 a.m., Kadima was narrowly leading Likud with a predicted 28 mandates, while the latter had garnered a predicted 27 seats. Israel Beiteinu was expected to earn 15 mandates, Labor 13, Shas 11, United Arab List five, United Torah Judaism four, National Union four, Hadash four, Meretz three, Bayit Hayehudi three, and Balad two." - Jerusalem Post

Benjamin Netanyahu warns against a nuclear Iran sheltering terrorist regimes

Opinion polls suggest that Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is well placed to become Israel's next Prime Minister.  In an interview for last weekend's Wall Street Journal we learnt a great deal about his views.  Here are some key quotes:

"I don't think Israel can accept an Iranian terror base next to its major cities any more than the United States could accept an al Qaeda base next to New York City."

"If we accept the notion that terrorists will have immunity because as they fire on civilians they hide behind civilians, then this tactic will be legitimized and the terrorists will have their greatest victory."

"We grieve for every child, for every innocent civilian that's killed either on our side or on the Palestinian side. The terrorists celebrate such suffering, on our side because they openly say they want to kill us, all of us, and on the Palestinian side because it helps them foster this false symmetry, which is contrary to common decency and international law."

He describes Iran as the "mother regime" of terrorists groups throughout the region and warns against the danger of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons:

"The arming of Iran with nuclear weapons may portend an irreversible process, because these regimes assume a kind of immortality... [This] will pose an existential threat to Israel directly, but also could give a nuclear umbrella to these terrorist bases."

Tom Gross, the former Jerusalem correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph, tells ConservativeInternational:

“Netanyahu is often wrongly vilified in the British media as being against a two-state solution. In fact he is open to the creation of a Palestinian state but only if it will be a durable state that will live peaceably with Israel. And for this, Netanyahu argues, you can’t simply wave a magic wand at some fancy signing ceremony on the White House lawn and say ‘hey presto’ – which is exactly what leftist politicians tried to do at the Oslo signing ceremony in 1993. First the Palestinians need to do the hard work of building institutions that would allow such a state to succeed – a functioning economy, the rule of law, and so on. And Netanyahu is very willing to offer Israeli assistance in building such mechanisms.”

Israel votes on 10th February.