The Fatal Quiet: Netanyahu Leaves Divided Israel for Europe Trip

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Dan Meridor, 62, and Tom Segev, 64, are members of the Israeli elite. They are both patriots and, like their fathers, have played prominent roles in fighting for their country. Both men live and work in Jerusalem, and they respect each other. And yet Intelligence Affairs Minister Meridor, Netanyahu's most trustworthy minister in the eyes of many Israelis, and writer Segev, widely viewed as the country's leading historian, arrive at completely different conclusions when it comes to Prime Minister Netanyahu and his intentions, as well as the country's current situation and its future.

Meridor receives visitors in his office at Israeli government headquarters. There is a landscape photograph taken in the soft light of sundown on the wall -- nothing military, and nothing formal. The politician, who bears a resemblance to Sweden's hapless former prime minister, Olof Palme, is in shirtsleeves. His soft voice makes it hard to believe that Meridor, a cultivated lawyer, was a tank commander during the Six-Day War. Because of his background and his brilliance, the Israeli press dubbed him the "Prince of Princes." When Netanyahu appointed him finance minister in his first cabinet, in 1995, Meridor seemed destined to rise to the very top of Israeli politics. But disenchantment set in after a year, when he had a falling-out with the premier, who gave him a raw deal behind the scenes, and resigned.

A Second Chance

Today Meridor is in charge of all of Israel's intelligence agencies. He is deputy prime minister and part of Netanyahu's "kitchen cabinet," which gives its seal of approval to every major political decision in the country. Why this second chance? Has Netanyahu changed? What should the world expect, in light of Netanyahu's threatening remark that the only difference between Adolf Hitler's and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regimes is that the Nazi "regime embarked on a global conflict before it developed nuclear weapons," while Iran's regime "is developing nuclear weapons before it embarks on a global conflict"?

Meridor sees the nuclear threat as the Israeli government's biggest problem. However, he does not believe that Netanyahu has already made the decision to launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, as the Israeli daily Haaretz reports. "We should concentrate now on harsher sanctions against Tehran, with America leading the way," he says in a SPIEGEL interview. "And we are counting on the Europeans to follow with serious actions. This includes Germany, which is one of Iran's very important trading partners." But Iran, Meridor continued, should never be allowed to become a nuclear power, because that would dramatically upset the balance of power in the Middle East, spell an end to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and put Israel's existence at risk.

For Meridor, the dangerous situation in the Middle East is complicated even further by a relatively new phenomenon, the "introduction of religion into this conflict." Arab leaders, says Meridor, have always hated and fought Israel, but never in the name of Allah. It was only through the actions of the Iranian leadership and its support for Hezbollah and Hamas that the Almighty has been brought into play, and in a fatal way. "People can compromise, but gods never compromise."

But isn't Obama justified in asking Israel for a sign of its willingness to compromise, especially given that he is constantly faced with new provocations? Recently, for example, Israeli Minister of Science and Technology Daniel Hershkowitz remarked that some of the US president's actions "border on anti-Semitism" -- and that if Washington is so troubled by the settlements, Israel would simply have to continue its settlement policy in a covert way.

Netanyahu 'Knows What He's Doing'

"Ours is a big coalition government with diverging views," says Meridor. But, he adds, Netanyahu has matured and is also prepared to take painful steps. For his part, Meridor -- who was once skeptical about the idea of a two-state solution -- says he has now supported the concept for more than 15 years.

Meridor says the "final borders are open for discussion," but if the territorial offer made by the Israelis doesn't turn out to be what the Palestinians expect, then too bad. "People don't want to recognize the realities. They hate the reality if it doesn't meet with their expectations." The problem with Fatah, says Meridor, is the question of whether it can deliver. If not, it doesn't matter whether that is the result of weakness of simply unwillingness. "Do we have a partner for a peace process?" Meridor asks, expressing his serious doubts about whether Fatah can act.

It seems likely that Meridor's political career will end at Netanyahu's side -- and in his shadow. He is fond of telling friends an anecdote about Adlai Stevenson, a former US politician and failed presidential candidate. "During one of his speeches, which was particularly well received, someone in the audience shouted: Don't worry; every decent American will vote for you. Stevenson replied: If that's true I'm really worried. I need a majority." Meridor smiles when he is reminded of the parallels to Israel today.

A few minutes after the interview ends, the minister contacts SPIEGEL once again. He wants to make it clear that he does not view the status quo as ideal, and that it must be "overcome, but while taking the lessons of history into account." For two hours, Meridor sounded like a hard-liner, but now the politician, considered a "moderate," is apparently eager not to create too radical an impression. Clearly torn between his own standards and Netanyahu's harsh policies, Meridor is a mirror image of the inner turmoil of the entire country.

A Land Grab

Historian Segev, the author of "1967," works only a few kilometers from Meridor's office. The sixth-floor apartment offers a view of Jerusalem's landmarks, including the historic wall that has surrounded the Old City for centuries, and the new wall that Israel built a few year ago as a security measure and continues to expand. It winds up and down the hills like some poisonous green viper. But building the security wall, meant to keep out terrorists, has been the equivalent of a land grab. To construct the barriers, Israel has confiscated more than 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of fields, cut down 83,000 olive trees and bisected 36 settlements.

Segev's parents fled Nazi Germany, and his father died in the 1948 war. The historian, considered a left-leaning liberal, supports the Peace Now movement, which has been very quiet lately. Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon derisively referred to the movement as a "virus." Segev shrugs his shoulders. "Netanyahu's government has put Israel to sleep, giving the nation the illusion that everything is just fine the way it is," he says. "Most Israelis no longer believe in the peace process. They have come to terms with the way things are now. They think that if anything changes, things will get worse." But Seger, too, has changed, he says, and he can understand Israelis' resigned attitudes.

"What bothers me even more is that intolerance and racism have become socially acceptable in Israel," the humanist says, with an air of melancholy. Segev accuses Foreign Minister Lieberman's party of fomenting xenophobia -- against Arabs in general and, more particularly, against Israel's Palestinian citizens.

But Lieberman isn't the only one. In the past, Ehud Barak sympathized with people in the refugee camps, and when he was once asked what he would have done if he had been born Palestinian, he said: "I might have joined a terrorist organization." But now, as defense minister in Netanyahu's cabinet, Barak has just taken the provocative step of dedicating a new synagogue in the Muslim section of the Old City, dismissing Arab protests like annoying flies. Does Barak, the leader of the Labor Party, symbolize the demise and cynicism of the former left?

Indifference Towards Palestinians

Segev believes that most Israelis view the leaders of all parties as corrupt. "Contempt of politicians contributes to skepticism about peace," he says. He is particularly troubled by "the Israelis' indifference toward Palestinians," and their inability to put themselves in the Palestinians' shoes. "No one is interested in what happens in the occupied territories anymore. We suppress it. And we do so despite the fact that everyone knows that the ongoing occupation is ultimately a suicidal policy that destroys the future."

The historian has followed Netanyahu's career carefully over the years. He believes that the prime minister could grant minor concessions to the Americans on the issue of settlements, but that Netanyahu will not make any fundamental changes to his policies. "He lived in the United States for a long time. He has a keen sense for the fact that Obama's pressure on Israel is beginning to let up, and that the new US president may not be in such a strong position, after all."

The Israeli prime minister will undoubtedly remain resolute on one issue, says Segev: Putting an end to Iran's presumed nuclear weapons program. According to Segev, Netanyahu knows that almost all Israelis support his position. "Of course, the fear of a new Holocaust has been manipulated, but the fear of annihilation is real. Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand Israel."

Segev sounds skeptical, almost resigned. Is there no glimmer of hope on the horizon? Yes, there is, he says: Marwan Barghouti. Sentenced to life in prison for three murders, the Palestinian leader has been in an Israeli prison since 2002. But he is believed to have become increasingly moderate and have developed into a proponent of peace. At the Fatah congress in early August, Barghouti, 50, was voted into the party's central committee with the third-largest number of votes of all candidates.

When asked whether Barghouti's past as a terrorist gives him pause, Segev responds: "Well, even Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir were once terrorists and became prime ministers," he says. "Perhaps Barghouti has the potential to become a Palestinian Nelson Mandela. We should have the courage to release him."

Hero-worshipping T-shirts imprinted with Barghouti's likeness are already being sold in Jerusalem's Old City. A company in the Israeli city of Petah Tikva printed the T-shirts. "The enemy is simply better at these techniques," says a merchant.

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• Part 1: Netanyahu Leaves Divided Israel for Europe Trip
• Part 2: 'Do We Have a Partner for a Peace Process?'