Israelis vote, Palestinians shrug

What did I do to write about the expectations of the Palestinians in the West Bank of the results of the Israeli elections?

I posted this question on my Facebook page: What do you expect the impact of the results of the Israeli elections on Palestinian citizens? A large number of comments and replies showed utter frustration and bitterness:

"The Israeli elections will speed up the construction rate of the Israeli settlements and we will lose additional areas from our Palestinian territories."

"The Israeli street is getting more and more radical - besides Meretz, one of the left-wing parties, is almost dying."

"Throughout the elections, the Israeli candidates endeavour to win votes by pledging to increase crime and tools of destruction against us."

"All Israeli parties serve the purpose of occupation and nothing will change in any positive way."

Undoubtedly, since the outbreak of the second intifada and the recurring wars on Gaza, Palestinian society lost every hope of seeing any Israeli party that could possibly grant the Palestinian people their rights, security and freedom.

The Palestinians are no longer interested in the implications of the Israeli elections on their security and political future in general, and their economic situation in particular.  All parties, expectations and routes in Israeli lead to one outcome only: continuous destruction, deprivation, poverty, barriers, fear, settlements and death.

Unbounded cynicism

It is not surprising that Palestinian citizens are frustrated.

"The elections won't have any impact on the Palestinian street because the Israeli parties are not interested in terminating the occupation," said Dr Honaida Ghanim, general director of the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR).

"They are not sincerely ready to offer historic compromises to resolve the conflict. The centrists and the leftists are feasibly able to confront international pressure. Although they might possibly work towards administering the conflict with more improved instruments to face the world, the real bargains shall yet be limited."

Mohammed Abuallan, a Palestinian who blogs on Israeli affairs, said: "I don't expect any positive results or radical changes at the Palestinian level after the Israeli elections for one reason. All Israeli parties largely concur on the issues regarding the Palestinian people and the political solution. As opinion polls show, the broad policy lines of the Zionist faction, which is expected to assume authority in the State of Israeli occupation, align with the political lines of Netanyahu's government regarding the political solution of the Palestinian issue.

"Both sides reject the solution based on a Palestinian State on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital."

It is not surprising that Palestinian citizens - merchants, managers, teachers, political activists, community leaders, and even human rights activists - express such utter frustration.

Their views are the result of the Israeli government's racist policies toward the Palestinians. We can sense the frustration of the Palestinian youth after every meeting between Palestinian negotiators, policy makers and the Israelis.

Years pass, yet the results are the same; parties change, yet the results are the same; governments change, yet the results are the same. 

Palestinians have reached this stage of indifference due to their long-term historical experience, with predictable results.

The expected changes at the Palestinian level after the Israeli elections are merely economic and centred upon daily life, including the relaxation of mobility restrictions, increasing the number of workers that work in Israel, allowing people aged over 50 to pray in Jerusalem, and the release of the withheld taxes.