Nice To Know Netanyahu

From an opponent, Haaretz's Nehemia Strassler:

...Netanyahu possesses an organized set of beliefs in both the foreign policy and the economic arenas. So one can catch him making inaccurate statements. That is not the point. His ideology is the key, and it is frightening and dangerous.

Netanyahu has never accepted the principle of "two states for two peoples." He does not believe in a negotiated solution to the conflict. He has no desire for any talks with the Palestinians. He is opposed to disengagement and he is opposed to withdrawal. He is seeking "might and not weakness," "war and not ingratiation." He is looking for force, and we know that when force doesn't work, use more force.

Bibi has no intention of relinquishing one square millimeter of West Bank land. He wants to do just the opposite, "to annex as much of the open space as possible," something like 50 percent, and to grant limited autonomy to certain towns and densely populated areas because he believes that any land that is evacuated will become a base from which radical Islam can operate against us. Every concession will play into the hands of Iran and Hamas. If we withdraw from the West Bank, Netanyahu says, missiles will threaten Ben-Gurion International Airport. And so Israeli settlements must be expanded, not evacuated, and of course we must retain the Jordan Valley as a security zone in the east...