Post-election reality sets in

The celebration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is enjoying (“On Election Day in Israel, change comes as decisive victory,” March 19) over having achieved what was until Election Day an uncertain victory may be short-lived.
His regrettable election-eve appeal to the right wing pledging that there will never be a Palestinian state while he is prime minister was a last-ditch effort to snag a victory, and it bore fruit. In making this promise, he has revealed to the world that his 2009 endorsement of a two-state solution to the intractable Middle East turmoil was a farce, something about which he was never serious, that he negotiated in bad faith over the years.
The prime minister’s stance brings him into direct conflict with the United States, escalating the tensions between our countries and with other nations which have long advocated for peace in the Middle East, a dream that is now as elusive as ever. Turbulent times are ahead for our traditional friend and ally, Israel, and the case can be made that the wounds have been self-inflicted.
Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman Mahmoud Abbas will now appear to many throughout the world as a sympathetic figure; he now has no partner in the peace process. I doubt that the Palestinians, recognizing that they have been double-crossed, are going to now sit back and relax as they wait for the Netanyahu era to end. Storm clouds are brewing.

Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair

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