“Rabin was the closest prime minister to getting a peace settlement in the Middle East. He hated the settlers — really hated them. And he was ready to settle with Abu Mazen [PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas], though he didn’t like him. He understood that’s the only solution for Israel’s future,” Peri said.
But Netanyahu had no choice but to launch the Lebanon campaign, he added. “Hezbollah had everything ready to pull off the same kind of action as Oct. 7. I cannot say that I’m against the Lebanon incursion. It is a necessity,” he said. “We understand that the world doesn’t like it. And the world will not be sympathetic to Israel when we’re killing children and civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. But we haven’t got a choice. If we want to stay alive in Israel, we have to.”
And yet, for all of that, he still harbors no doubt that Netanyahu is prolonging the conflict “for personal political considerations.”
“Netanyahu’s interested in war lasting for as long as possible, so it leaves him in his seat,” he said. “Bibi is chained to two ministers in his coalition government who dream of rebuilding the temple of the kings of Judea … It is unbelievable. It is Messianic. And they are menacing every time there’s a chance of a deal to release the hostages, a deal with the Palestinians and the opportunity for compromise,” he added.
Above all, however, Peri lamented the lack of thought given to an overall strategy, which is being crowded out by a relentless focus on tactics, and he criticized Netanyahu for not having day-after plans. Discussing the groundbreaking 2012 documentary “The Gatekeepers” — which chronicled Shin Bet, featuring interviews with six of its former heads, including Peri — he reiterated the one clear message all the former chiefs conveyed: Israel must come to a political settlement with Palestinians.
“We’re all the same,” he said. “I served for 32 years in the service. I still think the biggest error of Israel is not reaching a deal with the Palestinians. It’s the biggest error, the biggest failure of the Israelis.” Netanyahu’s just compounding the error, repeating the same mistake his predecessors made — a mistake Rabin tried to correct, costing him his life.
But with half a million Israeli settlers in the West Bank and a government lurching toward the right — as it always does after suffering trauma — is it possible to start seriously negotiating a settlement? “If we have internal strife among ourselves, even physical conflict between Israelis, Israel will still survive. It will survive that and that’s the point. [But] anyone who cares about the future of Israel has to understand that without solving the Palestinian issue, Israel won’t survive,” he stressed.
The story is far from over.
