ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist&reg;.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="465" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="18" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="283" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong>HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#149; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#149; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#149; <a href="teflon.html">THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#149; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com">REACTIONS</a> &#149; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="489" height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td width="18" height="2574" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td width="489" height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> Netanyahu Sworn In</b></font><p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b>by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright April 1, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="style1">S</span>worn in Tuesday for his second time as prime minister, 59-year-old Benjamin  Bibi Netanyahu promised to pursue  full peace with Israel s Arab neighbors, saying nothing about his support for an independent Palestinian state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Regarded as a hawk, Netanyahu is a brilliant public speaker, very much Israel s counterpart to U.S. President Barack Obama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Speaking flawless English, Netanyahu graduated high school at Cheltenham High School in Pennsylvania., earning his bachelors degree in architecture at MIT and an MBA from the Sloan School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s the first Israeli prime minister with deep American roots, serving for years as a Fox News Mideast analyst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the media has focused on his hawkish rhetoric, Bibi is a pragmatist seeking to capitalize as prime minister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>His first three-year stint as prime minister, from 1996-99, handed power to Labor Party s Ehud Barak.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Ehud Barak worked feverishly to broker a Palestinian peace deal with former President Bill Clinton in 2000, eventually ending in failure with the late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat launching a new  intifada or uprising, collaborating with late founder of Hamas Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and launching endless waves of suicide bombing on the Jewish State.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the blind, quadriplegic Yassin was assassinated by Israel March 22, 2004, Arafat died of mysterious causes Nov. 11, 2004.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Five more years of war pushed Israeli public opinion away from Labor to Netanyahu s more conservative, security-minded Likud Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Labor suffered its worst defeat in 20 years, garnering only 13 parliament seats compared to Lidud s 27 and Kadima s 28.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Netanyahu s closet rival former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livin refused Netanyahu s offer to continue her old portfolio.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Media reports misrepresent Netanyahu as anti-Arab, much the same way they did Kadima Party founder and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Before Sharon joined the peace process and urged Israel to leave the Gaza Strip Sept. 12, 2005, he was regarded as anti-Arab, certainly anti-Palestinian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Netanyahu now faces the same criticism because he puts Israel s security above political concessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I want to say to Mr. Netanyahu that the only way the Palestinians can rule themselves, by themselves, is through ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and establishing and independent Palestinian state, said old-time Arafat press secretary Saeb Erekat, before Netanyahu could finish his oath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Erekat didn t say that Israel won the so-called  occupied territories fair-and-square in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>To be accurate, Palestinians currently occupy Israel s spoils of war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Erekat, a spokesman for Arafat s successor Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, has no control of the 1.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza, led by Hamas chief Ismail Hanihyeh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections Jan. 26, 2006, forcefully seizing Gaza in a violent coup June 15, 2007.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Erekat only speaks for West Bank Palestinians, where Israel continues to build settlements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Israel has always and today more than ever, striven to reach full peace with the entire Arab and Muslim world, said Netanyahu at his swearing in ceremony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While short of declaring support for an independent Palestinian state, Bibi acknowledged that he plans to follow Sharon s path from warrior to peacemaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Erekat knows that Netanyahu can only do so much until Palestinians figure out who s in charge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Neither Fatah nor Hamas have shown any signs of compromise.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>When Livni dropped out and decided to go in opposition, she handed her portfolio to untranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party Leader Russian-born Avigdor Lieberman. Netanyahu has made it clear he plans to set Israeli foreign policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He knows that to be a successful prime minister he must align himself with the U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> In this government there are parties that are racist and fascist and that is dangerous not only for the Palestinians but for the Israelis as well, said Abdullah Abdulaah, a pro-Western Fatah spokesman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Abdullah refers to comments during the campaign of Lieberman who urged the Knesset [the Israeli parliament] to require elected Arab officials to take a loyalty oath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Israel currently allows Arabs with sworn vows to destroy the Jewish state to serve in parliament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Lieberman wanted, as politicians do for U.S. for citizens, elected officials, Arab elected officials to sign a loyalty oath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>That s considered  radical or  fascist by the Palestinian Authority.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Netanyahu put the White House on notice that it must deal with Iran s nuclear program or Israel will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>So far, Tehran shows no interest in compromising on its nuclear program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Iran believes it&#39;s well within its rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to complete the fuel cycle, enriching uranium for  peaceful purposes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Iran insists it s enriching uranium to generate electricity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With Iran s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatening to  wipe Israel off the map and denying the Holocaust, Netanyahu views Iran as an existential threat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Now that he s seated as prime minister, Netanyahu needs to consult closely with White House and look for all possible ways to avoid confrontation with Tehran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He needs to show the White House he s a team player when it comes to working toward a two-state solution and capable of toning down the heated rhetoric.</p> <p><u><b>About the Author</b></u></p> <p><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.<br> </p> <p></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="283" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td width="18" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong>Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com">Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>