In my opinion, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is currently working on a plan to create a Palestinian state within the West Bank. However, this plan is one sided, meaning he will create the new border of what is to become the Palestinian state, regardless of their desires. He has shown throughout the past year several times that there is no partner for negotiations, whether in France, Egypt or Russia. This plan is what is going to bring down Netanyahu’s political career but secure his name in history.
This will be a joint venture between Netanyahu and two other strong international players, which will put them in the history books as well, the President elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump, and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
It will be carried out in the next year after Trump is sworn into office. Netanyahu could have done this earlier, but he does not believe that the current President Barak Obama deserves the credit for such an achievement.
For the time being Netanyahu is doing everything in his power to make sure the government holds together until the right time. This is the reason he is allowing the continuation of the construction it the West Bank settlements, knowing that this is not a problem because, when the time comes, those buildings will most likely be given to the Palestinians.
When it is time to carry out the plan, there will be a shift in the government. The right wing parties such as Israel Beitenu and Habait Hayehudi will probably drop out leaving room for Hamahane Hatzioni and Yesh Atid to come in and create a broader government. This has already been tested by Netanyahu earlier this year when he ran the option of joining the government by the head of Hamahane Hatzioni Ytzhak Hertzog.
There is another left wing party which will not join the government and will seem to be on the fence regarding their decision about the plan, Meretz. They will end up voting yes when this comes to the Knesset, because they will realize that this is the only way to have a real Palestinian state, and they will never be the party to jeopardize this possibility. The Arab parties will vote against along with the right wing parties because they have to do so in order to save face with their voters. This will give Netanyahu the majority he needs.
Some may think that this will be similar to the other times we have pulled out, such as in Gaza, however, this is going to be different. In order to do this the right way, they will come up with a plan that will take about 5 years in which people living on the future border will choose to either leave with compensation or stay and become a full citizens of that country.
The agreement will be backed and reinforced by the Americans and Russians. This will also help bring them closer together and help work out some of the problems between them including putting an end or at least a fictional end to the cold war.
This will earn Netanyahu, Trump and Putin the Nobel Peace prize. Thanks to this, Trump will not have to do much in the US during his term in office, and then blame it on the Republican Congress. There is a reason why Trump came out saying that he is going to do the impossible and end the conflict in the Middle East, it is because he has probably already been informed by Netanyahu of the deal. Trump is saying the impossible when he already knows that it is more than possible, it is probable.
After this is all over, I believe Binyamin Netanyahu will retire from office and watch from the side how the political system changes both in Israel and in the United States. He will be remembered, not for all of the things he had done in order to stay in office, but for this plan that will change the face of the Middle East.
