Bennett Sets 'Red Lines' for Future Deal with Palestinians

by Shlomo Cesana, Yori Yalon, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett: Let's not play with words -- 1967 lines means dividing Jerusalem • Bennett calls on government to stand up to international pressure • Justice Minister Tzipi Livni: Bennett is failing to see reality.

Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday | Photo credit: KOKO

Habayit Hayehudi Chairman MK Naftali Bennett threatened on Tuesday that his party would quit the coalition if the government agrees to a deal with the Palestinians based on the 1967 borders.

Speaking at an Institute for National Security Studies conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Bennett outlined what he called his "red lines" regarding a future peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, saying, "Let's not play with words -- 1967 lines mean dividing Jerusalem."

Habayit Hayehudi, Bennett emphasized, "will never agree to relinquish the notion of a united Jerusalem, under Israeli sovereignty and solely Israeli sovereignty. We will not tolerate a Palestinian terror state. We will not accept a deal based on the 1967 lines. We will not beg for land swaps, as if this were a game of 'cut and paste' on some Word document. We will not allow the border to run along Highway 6 and subject Highway 4 to rocket fire.

"We will not be part of a government that yields to international pressure, risks our children's future and divides our capital," Bennett continued. "We will not be part of a government that makes easy and dangerous decisions."

Bennett urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not divide Jerusalem: "What will history make of the leader who would cede Jerusalem? Is such a move worth the world's temporary sympathy?"

Bennett, a member of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, told his audience that "these are crucial times for the State of Israel and crucial times call for clear rhetoric."

He added that he opposes Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman's proposal to swap areas in the Israeli Arab towns in Wadi Ara, southeast of Haifa, and the area northeast of Tel Aviv known as the "Triangle," for equivalent territory in Judea and Samaria.

Bennett called on Netanyahu to resist international pressure, saying, "International pressure is nothing new. If we had given into international pressure in the past, David Ben-Gurion would have never declared [the establishment of] the State of Israel." 

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnuah) leveled criticism at Bennett, saying that he was failing to see reality.

Speaking at a conference held at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Livni said: "On my way here, I heard a seemingly patriotic speech by a government minister, talking about people holding on to their land, a strong military and faith in a just way.

"Let me explain something about faith in a just way: The debate is not about the right to land," Livni said. "Spare me the sermons about who believes more in the Jewish people's right to the land of Israel. The point is that we have to reach an agreement from a position of advantage, not a position of weakness. We have to preserve our interests."

Livni added that "the people who cannot tell the difference between isolated outposts and settlement blocs are the people who oppose a diplomatic agreement -- they will end up being the ones who push us back to the 1967 lines."

Shlomo Cesana, Yori Yalon, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14585

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