by Shlomo Cesana, Yoni Hirsch, Mati Tuchfeld and Israel Hayom Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: It would be "absurd" to expect Israel to recognize a nation state for the Palestinian people without reciprocal recognition of Israel as the nation state for the Jewish people.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu at Monday's Likud-Beytenu faction meeting
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Photo credit: Dudi Vaaknin  |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized
Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas on Monday for his refusal to
recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Netanyahu's statements came after
Abbas told The New York Times that Palestinian recognition of Israel as a
Jewish state was "out of the question."
At a Likud-Beytenu faction meeting on Sunday,
Netanyahu said. "[Abbas] knows that there will not be an agreement
without recognition of the nation state of the Jewish people."
Netanyahu said it would be "absurd" to expect
Israel to recognize a nation state for the Palestinian people without
reciprocal recognition of Israel as the nation state for the Jewish
people.
"Let's see if the same international actors
who until now have put pressure on Israel will make clear to the
Palestinian Authority what exactly will be the consequences for the
Palestinians if there is no agreement," Netanyahu said. "Because, unless
the Palestinians understand that they will pay a price if the talks
fail, they will prefer to not continue the talks."
"No pressure will cause me to abandon the
vital interests of the State of Israel, first and foremost the security
of the citizens of Israel," Netanyahu said.
In a New York Times interview published on
Sunday, Abbas presented his positions on security issues, saying that
Israeli troops could remain in the territory of a Palestinian state for
five years after the signing of a peace agreement. Abbas also said that
an American-led NATO force could patrol a future Palestinian state
indefinitely.
Abbas said the NATO force could stay "for a
long time, and wherever they want, not only on the eastern borders, but
also on the western borders, everywhere. The third party can stay. They
can stay to reassure the Israelis, and to protect us."
"We will be demilitarized," Abbas said. "Do
you think we have any illusion that we can have any security if the
Israelis do not feel they have security?"
Abbas said the Palestinian state would not
have its own army, but only a police force, meaning that the NATO force
would be responsible for preventing weapons smuggling and terrorism.
Abbas also suggested that Israeli settlements
could be phased out over the course of a timetable similar to his
five-year proposal for the Israeli military withdrawal.
The current negotiations began on July 29,
2013, and were to take up to nine months, until April 29 this year.
Abbas displayed some flexibility over this deadline.
"It's not a sacred date," Abbas said. "Suppose
by the end of nine months we got something promising. Shall I stop? I
will not stop. If, after nine months, we didn't get anything, if there
is nothing on the horizon, we will stop."
Even if the negotiations fail, Abbas ruled out a return to violence "in my life, and if I have any more life in the future."
"I will never return to the armed struggle," Abbas said.
Abbas stuck to his intransigence on the issue
of recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, saying it was "out of the
question." Abbas mentioned that Jordan and Egypt were not asked to do so
when they signed peace agreements with Israel.
Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett
(Habayit Hayehudi) responded on Monday to the Abbas interview, saying,
"International forces are the last thing that will let us sleep
peacefully."
"From Israeli history, we learn a very simple
rule regarding international forces," Bennett said at a Habayit Hayehudi
faction meeting. "When everything is calm, they are there. But as soon
as you need them, they run away. This is what happened before the
Six-Day War [in 1967] and also what happened over the years in Lebanon. I
prefer to remain old-school -- only the Israel Defense Forces will
protect our children."
In Washington on Monday, U.S. State Department
spokeswoman Jen Psaki declined to predict when Kerry would present the
framework peace proposal he has been formulating.
"I'm not going to make a prediction of the
timing," Psaki said. "Obviously, this is something we're working hard
on, but again, I don't think we expect this to be soon.
"The nine-month timeframe remains. Nothing has changed
about that. The next step is a framework, but we haven't changed
anything about our timeline. ... We have a bit of time between now and
the end of April."
Shlomo Cesana, Yoni Hirsch, Mati Tuchfeld and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=15233
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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