‘Bibi indisposed to deal with Palestine’

Despite the expanding Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) international campaign against Israel, a political analyst says Tel Aviv is unlikely to strike a deal with the Palestinians, Press TV reports.

“I believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel, is reluctant to strike a deal with the Palestinians that sacrifices, as he puts it, the land of Israel,” Jamal Wakim, from the Lebanese International University, told Press TV.

The analyst added that any US pressure on Israel to strike a deal with the Palestinian Authority is ultimately in line with its own interests and not necessarily those of the Palestinians.

“The United States is aware of the fact that its influence in the world, its power is declining and it needs to strike a deal between Israel and the Palestinians in order to normalize the situation of Israel in the Middle East because the United States believes that it can no longer support Israel the way it did in the past 50 years,” the commentator added.

He emphasized that the Israeli premier is waiting US President Barack Obama’s term out in the hope that a hard-liner who is more supportive of the radical wing in Israel would take over the presidency in the United States.

He said there is only a “very weak” chance of a peace deal between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

“Netanyahu is counting on winning time to his favor in order to escape from and evade American pressures, mainly Obama pressures on him to strike a deal with the Palestinians,” Wakim pointed out.

The BDS movement aims to highlight the rights of the Palestinians. The boycott campaign includes “all funding, cooperation, and the granting of scholarships, research grants and prizes” to Israeli entities in those areas.

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators began a fresh round of talks in July 2013. Since the resumption of the direct talks, Palestinians have objected to a number of issues, including the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank including East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks broke down in 2010 after the Tel Aviv regime refused to halt its settlement construction. Israel’s settlement construction remains one of the main obstacles to the regional peace.