Israeli leaders mull statehood bid in a changing world

Israel’s opposition leader said on Sunday evening that Israel should seek its own resolution at the UN to block political parties advocating violence from democratic participation. Ten years since 9/11, and 10 days until the opening of the UN General Assembly session which will consider Palestine's statehood bid, Israel’s annual counter-terrorism summit mulled the events' implications. Kadima party head Tzipi Livni said in her address that Israel should seek to have its own parameters for democracy -- including the exclusion of extreme right-wing party Kach in 1988 -- applied through the UN, referring to the exclusion of Hamas and Hezbollah. The bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state is a "correct policy on their part, to go smoothly and not use force," Livni's last contender for party chair, former defense minister Shaul Mofaz said earlier at the event. By contrast, Israel's policy is a "lack of doing anything, just standing tall against the Palestinians and US and having to defend itself on a daily basis," Mofaz charged. Israel currently has "zero legitimacy," he said. Counter-terrorism and Palestinian statehood But another former defense chief, and ally in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said the Arab Spring showed Israel must be cautious. "Who knows if [a future Palestinian state] will be a partner, or become an arena where terror is fought against us?" Moshe Arens warned. "We called it the Arab Spring, but in some states it is chaos," he said. "It will get worse before it gets better." The elderly former diplomat said it was "not a consideration to take the IDF [Israeli army] out of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and think terror will not come back." Shifting sands after the Arab Spring The rush of revolutions across the region, described by Livni as a "wake-up call," imbued proceedings with a nervousness about Israel's strategic alliances, particularly with the US. Israeli foreign policy scholar Alex Mintz said the Arab Spring demonstrated the "irony of democracy in the Middle East … the common denominator of [new political forces] is their hatred of Israel." Mintz entreated US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to go on a "diplomatic offensive" to make Middle East leaders less hostile to Israel. Former chief of the Israeli spy agency Mossad Shabtai Shavit said the financial crisis and next US elections were shifting America from a comprehensive focus on terrorism across the world, to a single target, Al-Qaeda. "We should be concerned if the US gives up its leadership of the War on Terror," Shavit warned. Israel and the US But a resounding rendition by delegates of the two country's national anthems cushioned the US Ambassador to Israel's reassuring message. Highlighting US defense funding to Israel, Amb. Daniel Shapiro said cooperation was "deeper and wider" between the two countries under US President Barack Obama. Visiting Congressman Trent Franks, billed as a Reagan Republican and Baptist Christian, said "the Jewish state is the only capable, credible, unconditional and dependable ally of the US." "America and Israel love and honor the miracle of God called life, and are facing an enemy who doesn't love life at all," Franks said, receiving a standing ovation. Near neighbors Yet relations closer to home troubled the opposition-party speakers. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fueling regional isolation, Livni said, adding that the current diplomatic crisis with Turkey arose from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's wish to position himself as the defender of Palestinians. With the Egyptian street fired up by images on Al-Jazeera, the Kadima chief said, "I don't want the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of the agenda of the elections in Egypt, and we can do something about this." An unfolding picture Meanwhile, Mofaz predicted continuing reactions to the shifting regional context. "There is an earthquake in this region, and there will be one in Palestinian society too," the former army chief forecast. "You will see them demanding social justice and an end to occupation in the days and weeks after the September UN bid," Mofaz said. Moreover, Mofaz told the summit, "there will be another protest [in Israel] on political issues." Alluding to August's protest movement in Israeli cities under the banner of social justice, Mofaz noted, "For social justice we need political justice."