World Economic Forum's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister-Elect, pledged to be a “partner for peace” with Palestinians earlier this week.  The quote was a marked shift from the unrepentant, hawkish tone the Likud party head used for months leading up to this year’s elections for the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, most notably throughout the Gaza conflict, which was being used like a soccer ball by figures across Israel’s fractious political landscape.

Whether Netanyahu actually intends to negotiate in good faith with the Palestinian leadership in the hopes of finding the near mythical “two state solution”, or if he was just paying lip service in the press to the new administration of Barack Obama, remains to be seen.  But right leaning politicians like Netanyahu shouldn’t be underestimated in their ability to push peace forward in the region.  Indeed perhaps the only man alive who could’ve truly lead Israel toward peace, Ariel Sharon, hailed from the same Likud party and was a far more provocative hawk than Netanyahu before he attained the office of Prime Minister.  But Sharon changed once in power and came closer to truly changing Israeli policy toward peace more than any other politician in recent memory, before he tragically suffered a stroke and lapsed into a coma he has still not awoken from.  You can takepart in learning more about the Israeli - Palestinian conflict by logging onto the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information.

LINKS:

The Scotsman: Netanyahu claims Israel will offer ‘peace partnership’

The Independent: Netanyahu pledges to be a “partner for peace”

The Australian: Netanyahu talks Palestinian peace, but settlements to grow