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Follow Us on TwitterNetanyahu says peace with Palestinians is a must, but it won’t stop defamation of Israel 28Jun13 June 28, 2013
Haaretz - 27 June 2013
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel must not “fool” itself into thinking that reaching a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians would “eliminate the unbridled defamation of the Jewish state.”
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 109th anniversary of the death of Zionist visionary Theodore Herzl, Netanyahu said: “Israel wants peace and doesn’t want a bi-national state, but let’s not fool ourselves into believing that if we reach an agreement with the Palestinians it will eliminate the unbridled defamation against the Jewish state.”
Netanyahu reiterated his stance that a peace agreement must be based on security “and not on good will, adding: “Without security we won’t be able to defend ourselves if the peace unravels.”
Earlier Thursday, Haaretz reported that a senior cabinet minister from Netanyahu’s Likud party has revealed that Netanyahu would be willing to withdraw from most of the West Bank and evacuate numerous settlements as part of an agreement with the Palestinians, as long as his security demands were satisfied.
The senior minister, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, told Haaretz that Netanyahu knows very well that if negotiations with the Palestinians resume under U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry‘s auspices, he will have to hold serious discussions on the borders of a Palestinian state.
Science and Technology Minister Jacob Perry (Yesh Atid) said following publication of the report that while such a move may not have the full support of the government, the Israeli public would welcome such withdrawal.
“New winds are blowing,” Perry told Army Radio on Thursday morning. “Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that he is aware that there will be a painful evacuation of a number of settlements that won’t be a part of the territorial contiguity of settlement blocs and land swaps… I think that the Israeli public supports such a move. He may not have massive support in the cabinet, but the prime minister knows, as does everyone, that he has a majority in the Knesset.”
Outgoing Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer also welcomed the report, saying: “I think that we could have made greater efforts to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.”
“We have to understand that there is no possibility here of another romantic story as there was with [the late Egyptian President Anwar] Sadat and Egypt – that someone will visit, shake hands and everyone will stand with tears in their eyes,” Fischer added. “That’s because the Palestinians do not have one person who’s in charge. There are partners, but we have to help them to become stronger and to establish the state they want.”
“If we take into account the almost clear agreement to the effect that there will be settlement blocs and in return for them compensation in other places,” he said. It is certainly possible to reach a peace agreement.”
Deputy Transportation Minister MK Tzipi Hotovely, from the right-wing bracnh of the Likud, blasted the report, however, saying the move would not have the support of either the party or the nation.
“The Likud movement was destroyed once by [former Prime Minister] Arik Sharon as a result of the disengagement plan [from Gaza]. We will not permit a similar move that will destroy the settlements. Such a step has no party-base and national backing,” she said.
The senior Likud minister who spoke to Haaretz requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. He told Haaretz that Netanyahu knows very well that if negotiations with the Palestinians resume under U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s auspices, he will have to hold serious discussions on the borders of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu will meet later Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who will be arriving for his fifth round of talks in the region in the past three months. Kerry and Netanyahu are expected to meet for over three hours, virtually all of that time in private.
Kerry will leave for Jordan on Friday to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Kerry will continue to pressure Netanyahu and Abbas in order to find a formula that will enable a renewal of direct negotiations between the sides.
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