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<h1>Only the People of the United States Can End Israel’s Occupation</h1>
 <div><div><div><p><span></span></p>  <p>Last month&rsquo;s elections in Israel demonstrated that the Israeli electorate&rsquo;s shift to the right is not inexorable. But they are unlikely to bring peace any     closer by themselves.</p>  <p>Centrist parties&mdash;particularly a new secular group known as Yesh Atid, which won a surprising second place&mdash;did better than expected,     while the right-wing Likud Bloc of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu lost seats. However, Netanyahu&mdash;who has made clear his unwillingness to allow for the     creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, and who has escalated the illegal colonization of occupied East Jerusalem and other places in the West     Bank&mdash;will likely remain prime minister.</p>  <blockquote>If Israelis know that U.S. support will be forthcoming whether they pursue peace or not, they are likely to continue supporting the occupation of the West Bank.</blockquote>  <p>The good news is that Netanyahu will need to put together a coalition government with more centrist parties, instead of with far-right and fundamentalist     parties, as observers had expected. This makes war with Iran and other provocative actions by the Israeli government less likely.</p>  <p>Exit polls indicate that Israelis were primarily interested in domestic issues, especially the declining fortunes of the country&rsquo;s middle class, which is     struggling with stagnant wages, rising housing costs, and reckless privatization that has made a handful of Israelis very wealthy at the expense of the     majority. In the decades since the government of the social-democratic Labor Party, Israel has gone from being one of the most egalitarian countries in the     world to one of the most unequal, at least among advanced industrialized countries. A series of right-wing governments have shredded the country&rsquo;s     once-vaunted social welfare system, and exciting socialist initiatives like the kibbutz movement have faded. However, the Israeli people have engaged in     massive protests against the growing economic injustice, including the first general strike in more than a generation, as well as demonstrations and     occupations involving tens of thousands, easily eclipsing Occupy Wall Street in their numbers.</p>  <p>However, left-wing parties did not seem able to harness the energy of this movement, and progressives had to settle for the prospect that the new governing     coalition will likely emerge from the center-right rather than extreme right and fundamentalist parties. Indeed, as an indication of how far to the right     Israeli politics have gone, the Kadima Party, founded in 2005 by former right-wing prime minister and war criminal Ariel Sharon, is now considered part of     the &ldquo;center-left&rdquo; bloc.</p>  <p>While Israeli politics has shifted to a more hardline position, the Palestine Liberation Organization has become more moderate. The PLO-led Palestine     Authority, now recognized as a state by the United Nations, is solidly under moderate and pragmatic leadership, and has agreed to a peace settlement along     the lines of the one proposed by President Bill Clinton in December 2000&mdash;a demilitarized Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including     Arab-populated parts of East Jerusalem, with some limited territorial swaps to allow Israel to keep most of its settlements.</p>  <blockquote>The best hope for peace will have to come from the U.S. pressuring Israel to end its unjust     policies toward the Palestinians.</blockquote>  <p>This would leave Israel with 78 percent of historical Palestine and the Palestinians with 22 percent. Netanyahu, however, insists this is too much and     instead supports only limited Palestinian autonomy over a series of tiny non-contiguous cantons in parts of the West Bank, with Israel effectively annexing     the rest of the occupied territory. President Barack Obama has called for mutual compromise between these two positions.</p>  <p>Like citizens of other countries, Israelis are divided between left, right, and center. Those on the left&mdash;for either principled or pragmatic     reasons&mdash;recognize the need for their government to make the necessary territorial compromises for peace. Those on the right&mdash;for either religious or     nationalist reasons&mdash;are unwilling to do so.</p>  <p>The majority of Israelis remain in the middle. They are willing to accept these necessary compromises, but only if they know there will be negative     consequences for doing otherwise, such as losing the more than $3 billion in annual U.S. aid or the assurance that the U.S. will veto U.N. Security Council     resolutions that challenge the Israeli occupation. A threatened suspension of the U.S. economic largesse might finally force more Israelis to make the     connection between the heavily-subsidized settlement housing in the West Bank and the lack of affordable housing within Israel itself, or the huge     financial burden of the continued occupation with the cutbacks in domestic spending.</p>  <p>Conversely, if Israelis know that U.S. support will be forthcoming regardless, this key swing constituency is likely to continue backing parties that     support the occupation and colonization of the West Bank.</p>  <p>As a result, the best hope for peace will have to come from the United States pressuring Israel to end its unjust, illegal, and ultimately self-destructive     policies toward the Palestinians. And that will only happen if the American people are willing to pressure the Obama administration to do so.</p>  <hr width="50%"><p><span><strong>Interested?</strong></span></p>  <ul><li><br>Volunteers from both the Jewish and Arab sides of the conflict join forces to rebuild homes demolished by the Israeli government.</li>  <li><br>Stephen&nbsp;Zunes argues that a truly pro-Israel policy is one that is also a pro-Palestine and pro-peace.</li>  <li>  <div></div>  <div>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that this morning's airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza came in response to rocket attacks. The real reason may have more to do with his damaged political reputation at home.</div>  </li>  </ul></div><!-- <img src="1332bad084144797b1ddab5a23b86a7a"> --></div><!-- <p>Stephen Zunes wrote this article for <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org">YES! Magazine</a>, <span>a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions.</span> Stephen is a professor of Politics and chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco.</p> --></div><!-- <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/israelis-palestinians-join-rebuild-homes-taayush" title="Photo Essay: Israelis and Palestinians Join Up to Rebuild Homes">Photo Essay: Israelis and Palestinians Join Up to Rebuild Homes</a> --><!-- <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-just-foreign-policy/a-real-pro-israel-policy-helps-palestine-too" title="A Real Pro-Israel Policy Helps Palestine, Too">A Real Pro-Israel Policy Helps Palestine, Too</a> --><!-- <a href="resolveuid/90390861c3d33c6bdf5012eb5165d241">In Gaza Airstrikes, an Appeal to Netanyahu&#8217;s Hardliners</a> -->
<p>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org">Yes! Magazine</a> at <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2013/02/07/only-people-of-the-united-states-can-budge-israel-occupation">https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2013/02/07/only-people-of-the-united-states-can-budge-israel-occupation</a>.</p><link href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2013/02/07/only-people-of-the-united-states-can-budge-israel-occupation" rel="canonical"/><p>Yes! Magazine is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of ... . Learn more at <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org">Yes! Magazine</a></p><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://www.yesmagazine.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=14541&ga4=G-74QJNNY44Z" style="width:1px;height:1px;">

Only the People of the United States Can End Israel’s Occupation
   Last month’s elections in Israel demonstrated that the Israeli electorate’s shift to the right is not inexorable. But they are unlikely to bring peace any     closer by themselves.  Centrist parties—particularly a new secular group known as Yesh Atid, which won a surprising second place—did better than expected,     while the right-wing Likud Bloc of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu lost seats. However, Netanyahu—who has made clear his unwillingness to allow for the     creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, and who has escalated the illegal colonization of occupied East Jerusalem and other places in the West     Bank—will likely remain prime minister.  If Israelis know that U.S. support will be forthcoming whether they pursue peace or not, they are likely to continue supporting the occupation of the West Bank.  The good news is that Netanyahu will need to put together a coalition government with more centrist parties, instead of with far-right and fundamentalist     parties, as observers had expected. This makes war with Iran and other provocative actions by the Israeli government less likely.  Exit polls indicate that Israelis were primarily interested in domestic issues, especially the declining fortunes of the country’s middle class, which is     struggling with stagnant wages, rising housing costs, and reckless privatization that has made a handful of Israelis very wealthy at the expense of the     majority. In the decades since the government of the social-democratic Labor Party, Israel has gone from being one of the most egalitarian countries in the     world to one of the most unequal, at least among advanced industrialized countries. A series of right-wing governments have shredded the country’s     once-vaunted social welfare system, and exciting socialist initiatives like the kibbutz movement have faded. However, the Israeli people have engaged in     massive protests against the growing economic injustice, including the first general strike in more than a generation, as well as demonstrations and     occupations involving tens of thousands, easily eclipsing Occupy Wall Street in their numbers.  However, left-wing parties did not seem able to harness the energy of this movement, and progressives had to settle for the prospect that the new governing     coalition will likely emerge from the center-right rather than extreme right and fundamentalist parties. Indeed, as an indication of how far to the right     Israeli politics have gone, the Kadima Party, founded in 2005 by former right-wing prime minister and war criminal Ariel Sharon, is now considered part of     the “center-left” bloc.  While Israeli politics has shifted to a more hardline position, the Palestine Liberation Organization has become more moderate. The PLO-led Palestine     Authority, now recognized as a state by the United Nations, is solidly under moderate and pragmatic leadership, and has agreed to a peace settlement along     the lines of the one proposed by President Bill Clinton in December 2000—a demilitarized Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including     Arab-populated parts of East Jerusalem, with some limited territorial swaps to allow Israel to keep most of its settlements.  The best hope for peace will have to come from the U.S. pressuring Israel to end its unjust     policies toward the Palestinians.  This would leave Israel with 78 percent of historical Palestine and the Palestinians with 22 percent. Netanyahu, however, insists this is too much and     instead supports only limited Palestinian autonomy over a series of tiny non-contiguous cantons in parts of the West Bank, with Israel effectively annexing     the rest of the occupied territory. President Barack Obama has called for mutual compromise between these two positions.  Like citizens of other countries, Israelis are divided between left, right, and center. Those on the left—for either principled or pragmatic     reasons—recognize the need for their government to make the necessary territorial compromises for peace. Those on the right—for either religious or     nationalist reasons—are unwilling to do so.  The majority of Israelis remain in the middle. They are willing to accept these necessary compromises, but only if they know there will be negative     consequences for doing otherwise, such as losing the more than $3 billion in annual U.S. aid or the assurance that the U.S. will veto U.N. Security Council     resolutions that challenge the Israeli occupation. A threatened suspension of the U.S. economic largesse might finally force more Israelis to make the     connection between the heavily-subsidized settlement housing in the West Bank and the lack of affordable housing within Israel itself, or the huge     financial burden of the continued occupation with the cutbacks in domestic spending.  Conversely, if Israelis know that U.S. support will be forthcoming regardless, this key swing constituency is likely to continue backing parties that     support the occupation and colonization of the West Bank.  As a result, the best hope for peace will have to come from the United States pressuring Israel to end its unjust, illegal, and ultimately self-destructive     policies toward the Palestinians. And that will only happen if the American people are willing to pressure the Obama administration to do so.  Interested?  Volunteers from both the Jewish and Arab sides of the conflict join forces to rebuild homes demolished by the Israeli government.  Stephen Zunes argues that a truly pro-Israel policy is one that is also a pro-Palestine and pro-peace.      Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that this morning's airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza came in response to rocket attacks. The real reason may have more to do with his damaged political reputation at home.

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