Born in 1949, the Israel Bibi Netanyahu knows is not a nation that was the logical creation by the United Nations for a religious minority of people who were decimated by the Holocaust.
The Israel Bibi Netanyahu knows is a nation that has undergoing a 60 year period of expansion. And if this expansion has to stop, due to some peace process where the refugee camps in Gaza and the West bank become an actual nation...
...well that would not be a period of expansion. That would be a period of contraction.
Looking at a picture of Israel over the years, the Israeli expansion is more apparent:
Israel from 1947 to 2005.
from what we can see Israel keeps getting larger and larger, as land for displaced Palestinians keeps getting smaller and smaller. And Netanyahu has made many statements signaling that he wants this expansion to continue. As you can see, there are still many little green specks on the map, and these are the areas remaining that Israeli backed settlements have left to expand into.
Based on the map it would appear Israel is growing at a steady rate, and the future for owning land looks prosperous for the Israeli people. But the map does not tell the whole story. Israeli expansion is only eclipsed by the population growth of displaced Palestinians in those little green bits.
With a current Palestinian population in the West Bank refugee camps totaling 2.3 million and a Palestinian population in the most densly populated area in the world, the Gaza Strip being 1.6 million, and in Israel 1.3 million... there are over 5 million Palestinians between Israel and the Palestinian green bits.
Israel's population growth is not keeping pace with Palestinian population growth. In 2009 the total population of Israel was 7,411,000. Subtract the 1.3 million Palestinians, then the Palestinian population of the disputed region is a 5 million minority compared to a 6 million majority of non-Palestinians in the area.
The effects of the rapid Palestinain population growth is apparant in 2008 demographic results. In 2008 there were 4 births for every 100 Palestinians, that amounts to 200,000 more Palestinians a year. In 2008 there were 1.7 births for every 100 Israelis. With about 85,000 new Israelis a year.
At this rate, the population of Palestinians will outweigh the non-Palestinian population in Israel and the Israeli administered West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2025.
This will mean Israelis are now considered a minority in their own land, and if that happens, the state of Israel will cease to exist. Because Israel will not possibly claim to be a Democratic Jewish state at this point.
Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system and universal suffrage.
In this situation with a representative democracy, it would be possible for a muslim to become president of Israel. This is why Netanyahu is right. If there is peace, and a two state solution, Netanyahu's Israel... an Israel that he has known as expansionist all his life... will cease to exist. Israel will not be able to expand into an Internationally recognized country like Palestine in a land grab anymore. These won't be Palestinians in a refugee camp they can dominate anymore, it will be an actual nation. And with further expansion of Israeli Territories over, Israel will go back to being a nation that was the logical creation by the United Nations for a minority of people who were decimated by the Holocaust.
So in order for Bibi Netanyahu to save the Israel he has known all his life, he must continue the expansion of Israel into the West Bank. As for what can be done with the remaining population of Palestinians, Bibi Netanyahu has few options.
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip cannot be granted equal rights as Israeli citizens. By 2025, the majority party in power in Israel will be Muslims. This would end the 1947 UN charter creating a Jewish State.
Palestinians cannot have their own nation. This would prevent further Israeli confiscating lands for settlements, and it would require a sizable reduction in the size of Israel. With Bibi Netanyahu previous history of arguing for continued fighting during the 2006 Israel/Lebannon war, it does not appear Netanyahu is interested in giving up land for peace.
What other options are there for Bibi Netanyahu and the rising population of the ever decreasing Palestinian lands?
Two words: Population Reduction.
But the Palestinian population is rising so fast, over 100,000 Palestinians would have to be killed or deported each year to keep up with Palestinian population growth. However, if the Palestinian people are crammed into an ever smaller and smaller refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank, something else might happen:
The term 'demographic trap' applies to a country whose population is growing rapidly due to a high birth rate and low death rate. This usually happens when a developing country moves through the demographic transition of becoming developed. During the 3rd stage of demographic transition (called the late transition stage), quality of health care has improved enough that death rates fall into the "accepted" range, which is usually well below 10 per 1000 people. However, birth rates remain high, and the country becomes "trapped" in a self-perpetuating cycle. The country's economic growth from the transition stage ends up being used to support the needs of the exploding population instead of economic and social development. As a result, the country cannot proceed to the final stage, post-transition, and remains in the 3rd stage. What may happen instead, as predicted indirectly by Thomas Malthus, is a Malthusian collapse, in which famine and disease ravage the country's population, lowering numbers dramatically.
Is this the only possible outcome for the nation of Israel? If Obama's Secretary of State has an alternative solution that works, Hillary Clinton will win the Nobel Peace Prize.