Netanyahu's fanciful end run around the Palestinians

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened the weekly Cabinet meeting on June 30 with a “very important statement” from an interview granted by Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa to Israel’s Channel 13 News. He quoted, “Israel is a country of the Middle East. Israel is part of the heritage of this whole region. The Jewish people have a place amongst us. The Israeli public needs to trust that there are countries in the region that do want to have peace and do encourage the Palestinians to do it.”

Netanyahu attributed the refreshing interview with the Bahraini minister to none other than “our policy, which is turning Israel into a rising regional and global power.” Israel, Netanyahu added, is “drawing closer to the Arab states, and gradually normalizing relations with them” and had “praised the Bahrain conference that was designed first and foremost to lead to economic prosperity for the Palestinians and the entire region.” The Palestinians, he said, “repeatedly attacked the conference in contradiction of their own interests,” while Israel “is continuing to advance ties with the Arab world, including today, and this serves everyone.”