Terrible news for peace

By Guillero Alvarado

Following much contested legislative elections in Israel, the extremist Benjamin Netanyahu is already forming his fifth consecutive government, which is very bad news for peace in the Middle East and for the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian People to have a sovereign state, free and independent.

According to still incomplete final results, the Likud Party, headed by Netanyahu got thirty-five deputies in Parliament, the same number as the most important opposition party, Blue and White.

However, the combined strength of the right wing political formations gives them sixty-five parliamentary seats out of a total of one hundred and twenty, guaranteeing them a majority to sustain a right wing government.

It can be expected that this right wing formation will control the Israeli Parliament and the continuation of the xenophobic, aggressive course of Israel’s foreign and domestic policies, as well as those imposed on the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories.

That includes the hardening of the blockade against the Gaza Strip, a narrow strip of Arab land where almost two million Arab civilians are massed in inhuman conditions in a narrow strip of just three hundred and eighty-five square kilometers, a territory under constant attack by the Israeli army and warplanes.

Mr. Netanyahu’s political campaign has been based on the promise to extend Israeli occupation of Arab lands and the setting up of more Israeli colonies in Arab territories, meaning the expulsion of legal Palestinian residents and the distribution of their possessions among Israeli settlers.

Moreover, Tel Aviv hopes to grab the Golan Heights from Syria, and expects the full support of its unconditional ally, Mr. Donald Trump.

In sum, the reelection of the Likud Party in Israel will also bring an increase in the military threats against Iran, especially after President Trump included its Islamic Revolution Guard Corps in his very personal list of “terrorist organizations.”

These are bad news for peace, at a moment when the war drums are sounding in several places of the world, which shows that after twenty-one centuries of modern history, part of humankind is still entrenched in the caves of hatred, racism and xenophobia.