Give peace a chance? Take another toke

On this week’s episode: How the French initiative floated like a butterfly but failed to sting like a bee; Netanyahu’s latest overtures toward peace; Israeli democracy vs nationalism; and a plan to decriminalize cannabis goes to pot

By Raoul Wootliff 7 June 2016, 12:10 pm Edit

Raoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.

The panel this week discusses the Paris peace summit held last week and attended by representatives of 20 countries — excluding Israel and the Palestinians — and asks if the initiative failed to achieve its goal of kick-starting the moribund peace process.

At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making his own overtures toward peace, hinting at a possible warming to the Arab Peace Initiative. The panel explores whether his moves show a genuine willingness to enter negotiations or are just a political calculation to buy time.

With the diplomatic and political realms bumbling toward a possible peace process, the panel looks at where the public stands and if, on the Israeli streets, the two-state solution is dead in the water.

Plus, the panel smokes out the latest efforts to decriminalize marijuana use. Have the seeds been sown for full legalization in Israel?

The big debate

Times of Israel senior analyst Haviv Retting Gur and former Knesset member and current dean of The School of Government and Society at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo Professor Naomi Chazan discuss the relationship and possible conflict between Israeli democracy and Israeli nationalism, based on recent articles they both wrote on the subject: