Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear, most recently during the Israeli election, that negotiations with the Palestinians are a waste of time for the foreseeable future. He believes, instead, in conflict management. As this approach has been applied in Gaza, it is commonly referred to as “cutting the grass.”
(As an aside, it was his objective to coerce the US to launch periodic air strikes in Iran–i.e., to “cut the grass”– for him. Obama refused to be his lawn guy. No wonder he was so pissed off.)
In the short term, you would have to say that the Israeli government’s tactics (build the wall, change facts on the ground through settlements, and make the minimum diplomatic efforts necessary to satisfy the outside world) have been reasonably successful. Gaza is a flea bite, and the West Bank has been largely quiet for several years, mostly because the PA has been willing to act as Israel’s policeman in exchange for the illusion of power and a negotiated two-state solution. No progress has been made on the latter for several years. The question is, how long can this last?
In the longer term, Israel has three points of vulnerability:
- Hezbollah is a far greater military threat than Hamas. Fortunately for the Israelis, it is primarily engaged in fighting in Syria at the present time. The Syrian civil war presented an opportunity for Israel to force Hezbollah to fight on two fronts, but the government has chosen not to do that. At some point, the civil war will end, and the danger will return.
- The possibility of an incident in the Old City that inflames passions throughout the Islamic world grows by the day. The PA is apparently using social media to spread rumors about the government’s plans because every other available lever to force the government to the table has failed. Netanyahu is probably telling the truth when he says that the government has no intention of changing the status quo, but his credibility on the issue is compromised by the views of some of his radical right friends.
- Israel’s millions of Arab citizens are a huge potential threat if the government insists on marginalizing them. Unlike the West Bank, that problem cannot be solved with a wall. In the absence of a negotiated solution, what are the government’s options? Collective punishment? Mass expulsions?
The bottom line is that “cutting the grass” isn’t going to work forever. Calling everyone who disagrees with you a Nazi doesn’t accomplish much, either.