The Palestinian issue is absent from the agenda of the electoral campaigns of the Jewish parties in the Knesset elections that will take place on March 23, while the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, continues to transfer a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and replace it with normalization with the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The signing of "Abraham Agreements" with the UAE and Bahrain and the normalization of relations with Sudan and Morocco contributed to perpetuating the approach of the Jewish parties by absenting the Palestinian file, and dissolving (merging) the normalization card with the Israeli mentality to settle the conflict with the Arab and Islamic worlds without making any concessions or paying the bill for the "land for peace." .

Despite the internal crises and the economic, health and social repercussions of the Corona pandemic, some analysts believe that the mobilization of normalization agreements with the general Israeli discourse and the consensus of the Jewish parties contributed to preserving the Likud's strength in the pre-election campaign, while Netanyahu reaped its fruits by keeping him first in the electoral contest despite his trial. He was accused of corruption, which helped boost his chances of forming a narrow right-wing government.

In isolation from the internal issues and the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, it is noted that the transformations that the Israeli society has been witnessing since a little more than a decade ago has shifted towards right-wing positions and has been absent from its general political thought and rhetoric, the Palestinian issue, it no longer accepts any settlement based on the two-state solution even if an alternative government to the Netanyahu government is formed.

The possibility of forming an alternative government for Netanyahu depends mainly on the vehicles of the right-wing parties represented by the "New Hope" party, headed by Gideon Sa'ar, the "Yamina" party, headed by Naftali Bennett, and the "Israel Our Home" party led by Avigdor Lieberman, a government that will be related to the partnership of the "There is a future" party. Headed by Yair Lapid, who is affiliated with the Central (Center) camp, and supported the Labor parties and Meretz, who are affiliated with the left.

The Palestinian issue was presented in the speech of some parties in terms of establishing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank (Al-Jazeera Net)

The absence of essence

The researcher on Israeli affairs, Antoine Shalhat, believes that the Palestinian issue, in its essence and basic components as a focus of the conflict, was absent from the Israeli elections in the previous rounds, even though it appeared in the speech of some Jewish parties, from the angle of consecrating Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, as was evident in the deal of the century, as it did not attend In the context of the two-state solution and curbing the settlement project or withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, or even in the context of any settlement from the Israeli point of view.

In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, the researcher on Israeli affairs attributed the absence of the Palestinian issue from the programs of the Jewish parties in the Knesset elections to the unprecedented identification of the former US administration and its president, Donald Trump, with the Israeli right, with the continuation of Netanyahu's rule and normalization agreements with Arab countries.

He explained that the Fourth Knesset elections confirm the absence of the Palestinian cause due to the Israeli internal debate regarding Netanyahu’s continued rule in light of his corruption trial, with the consensus that competition in these elections mainly revolves around the right to remain in power even if Netanyahu is overthrown.

Also, the current Israeli elections are taking place at the height of the Corona pandemic and its economic and social repercussions on the Israeli voters, who mainly follow the success or failure of the Netanyahu government in managing the Corona crisis and its deposits in light of the consensus among the Jewish parties that the Netanyahu government has failed to confront the pandemic despite the campaign Vaccinations against the virus. "

Protests in Umm al-Fahm, the Palestinian interior, rejecting the policies of the Netanyahu government (Al-Jazeera Net)

Settlement and normalization

Regardless of the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, which contributed to the marginalization of the Palestinian cause, we find that the Israeli center and left-wing parties - as Shhalt says - “have deliberated in recent years to put forward a settlement and end the conflict with the Palestinians from the perspective that the survival of the conflict and the occupation and the absence of any settlement constitutes a threat to the survival of Israel as a Jewish state.” And not from the perspective of achieving justice for the Palestinian people, realizing their rights to freedom and independence, and establishing their state within the borders of June 4, 1967, as stipulated in international resolutions.

Amidst the changes and changes in the thinking and agenda of the Jewish parties in everything related to the Palestinian issue, the researcher on the Israeli issue believes that "this stage is in which Netanyahu's approach is employed and mobilized by the conclusion of normalization agreements with Arab and Gulf countries, and the mobilization and support for normalization agreements come despite the general Arab position on the Palestinian issue, which is He adopted the Arab Peace Initiative, which included a clause stipulating the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel after settling the Palestinian issue. "

Shalhat explained that the Jewish parties, through the conclusion of the Abraham agreements, understood that the condition of normalization had been dispensed with to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict and establish a Palestinian state, as they realized that bridges of diplomatic relations with the Arab world could be built by circumventing the Palestinian issue and exploiting the influence of some Arab regimes to exert pressure on the Palestinians. To accept any solutions and settlement even if it does not include the two-state solution.

Shift and interest

On the Israeli side, a position assessment on the Palestinian issue, the Knesset elections, Israeli diplomacy and its foreign and regional policy, issued by the Israeli Institute "Mitvim", which specializes in the foreign policies of Israel and the Middle East, showed that the peace process has returned to the agenda of the international community despite the absence of the Palestinian issue from the electoral programs of the Israeli parties.

The researcher at the Mitvim Institute explained that Kebrick was taken into consideration in assessing the position that Al Jazeera received a copy of, that the Palestinian issue, despite its absence in the Israeli election scene, will remain Israel's gateway to the Middle East despite the normalization agreements that Netanyahu sought to employ in his election campaign by receiving diplomatic missions from Morocco and Bahrain. And the UAE ambassador to Tel Aviv, Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Khaja.

The Israeli researcher pointed out that the position of the US President Joe Biden's administration in support of the two-state solution - despite Washington’s assessment of the difficulty of implementing this on the ground - gave impetus to the return of the international community and the European Union to pay attention to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and to reject the creeping annexation of parts of the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty. The transformation that any future Israeli government is supposed to deal with.

The two-state solution was absent from the Israeli political scene, even among the Israeli center and left camp, according to the assessment of the (Getty) position.

Annexation and settlement

Despite these changes and international changes that come at the height of the Knesset election campaign, in which there are no proposals and proposals for any settlement with the Palestinians, the Netanyahu government continues the approach and policy of creeping annexation and expansion of the settlement project as unilateral measures that will impose facts on the ground that prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state within borders. 4th of June.

The two-state solution is no longer present in the Israeli political scene in general, not even among the Israeli center and left camp, according to the assessment of the position of the Mitvim Institute, where the researcher Keprek cited the position of Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli, who is affiliated with the Israeli left, who stated that the importance of ending the Israeli conflict - The Palestinian lies in ensuring the future of Israel, while the leader of the opposition, the head of the "There is a future" party, Yair Lapid, affirmed his support for the settlement blocs in the West Bank and his reservation on any settlement outposts that would obstruct any political settlement.