Netenyahu accepts possibility of Palestine

[Cant_Be_Faded]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090614/D98QJHCG0.html


Netanyahu accepts limited Palestinian state
Email this Story

Jun 14, 1:51 PM (ET)

(AP) A Palestinian worker is seen at a construction site for a new housing development in the Jewish...
Full Image

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday called for creation of a limited Palestinian state for the first time, saying it would have to be disarmed.

Netanyahu made the call during a major policy speech about his Mideast peacemaking intentions.

"In any peace agreement, the territory under Palestinian control must be disarmed, with solid security guarantees for Israel," he said.

"If we get this guarantee for demilitarization and necessary security arrangements for Israel, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, we will be willing in a real peace agreement to reach a solution of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said.

Up to now Netanyahu has resisted endorsing the creation of a Palestinian state as part of a Mideast peace settlement, drawing intense pressure from the administration of President Barack Obama.

Netanyahu also said the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and he declared that the solution of the Palestinian refugee problem must be "outside Israel."

Palestinians claim that refugees from the 1948-49 war that followed Israel's creation and their millions of descendants have the right to reclaim their original homes.

"I call on you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority: Let us begin peace negotiations immediately, without preconditions," he said. "Israel is committed to international agreements and expects all the other parties to fulfill their obligations as well."

Netanyahu also called for Arab leaders to meet him and contribute to Palestinian economic development.




Not jumping the gun, but certainly this is as much a positive sign (so far) of Diplobamacy as the right's list of negative signs.
Maybe all his hardline rhetoric from a few months ago was just to rally his voting base.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

related..

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6498930.ece

Binyamin Netanyahu threw down the gauntlet to the US tonight, grudgingly agreeing to a limited Palestinian state that would be demilitarised and not in control of its airspace or borders.

The hawkish Prime Minister insisted that Israel would never give up a united Jerusalem as its capital, and said that established Jewish settlements in the West Bank would continue to expand — despite explicit objections from Washington.

In a keynote speech that referred to a Palestinian “entity” far more frequently than an actual state, Mr Netanyahu tried to advance elements of his economic peace plan — whereby the Palestinians would receive investment in return for limited sovereignty — while still conceding to US insistence on the creation of an independent Palestinian country.

The right-wing Israeli leader said the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank must agree to recognise Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, as well as fight the Islamic hardliners Hamas, who now control Gaza, in return for the resumption of peace talks.
Related Links

* Tried and tested tactic against a president

* Netanyahu may yield to two-state solution

* No we can’t, Israeli hardliners tell Obama

“The key condition is that the Palestinians recognise in a clear and public manner that Israel is the state of the Jewish people,” he told dignitaries in an auditorium at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv.

“If we have the guarantees on demilitarisation, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as a state of the Jewish people, then we arrive at a solution based on a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside Israel,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“Each will have its flag, each will have its anthem. The Palestinian territory will be without arms, will not control airspace, will not be able to have arms enter.”

He said that “effective security safeguards” would have to be in place, without specifying what they might be. Israeli military officers have long argued that without an Israeli military presence, the Fatah-controlled West Bank would quickly fall to the Iranian-backed Hamas, which took control of Gaza two years ago amid fierce fighting.

Mr Netanyahu said that Hamas rocket-fire from Gaza, attacking Israeli cities in the south, would quickly reach Tel Aviv and its airport if the Islamist hardliners came to control the West Bank. “Many a worthy person has told us that withdrawal is the key to peace between us and the Palestinians. But the fact is that every withdrawal has been accompanied by rockets and suicide attacks.”

He said that the Palestinians had to drop the right of return for hundreds of thousands of refugees to their homes inside Israel.

Mr Netanyahu has been forced to tread a fine line between placating his largely nationalist-religious coalition while not flying in the face of Israel’s main ally, the US — which wants a total halt to all settlement growth and recognition of an independent Palestinian state. He said tonight that he would not agree to US demands for a total freeze on the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

“I do not wish to build new settlements or to confiscate lands to that end, but we have to allow the residents of the settlements to live normal lives,” he said.

The much anticipated speech, in part a response to President Obama’s address to the Muslim world in Cairo two weeks ago, was condemned by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

“This speech torpedoes all peace initiatives in the region,” said Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official, said that Mr Netanyahu “spoke of a Palestinian state while emptying it of any substance by excluding a stop to settlements”.

[boutons_deux]

His acceptable Palestinian state looks like a jigsaw puzzle with 50% of the Palestinian pieces missing. Those pieces are Israeli settlements, established on the best lands.

A jigsaw puzzle isn't a viable state, as if Netanyahu cared.

[ChumpDumper]

It's a fairly time-honored tradition to pretend to agree to something but with conditions that are obviously unacceptable to the other party.

[Winehole23]

So if Palestinians give up Jerusalem, the right of return, illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank; and they demilitarize, cede control of airspace, borders and communication to Israel forever, and recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish homeland, Netanyahu might be able to swing a deal.

Frankly, I don't really see how Fatah could come through this with its political credibility intact (domestically). I'm not too sure that it is right now. Netanyahu's "generous" offer may do them in, whether Fatah accepts it or not.

[Nbadan]

Had the UN recreated Israel in say, Canada, we wouldn't be having these problems today...

[Winehole23]

Canada would never have gone for it.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Slap in the face, anyone?

[Viva Las Espuelas]

i can't believe netenyahu of all people doing this. all i gotta say is that ol' nettie better not be bluffin' 'cause if he is it's all over.

[ChumpDumper]

There is no bluff -- just conditions that could never realistically be accepted. Bebe can now say he tried though, and kick the can a little farther down the road while the settlements expand.

[DarrinS]

Slap in the face, anyone?


To the Obama admin. Anyone think this may just be a very smartass response to recent US policy toward Israel?

[ChumpDumper]

To the Obama admin. Anyone think this may just be a very smartass response to recent US policy toward Israel?No. As I said before, Bebe is never going to make any real concessions of his own accord.

Remind me why you want us to kiss Israel's ass with full tongue no matter what they do?

[fyatuk]

There is no bluff -- just conditions that could never realistically be accepted. Bebe can now say he tried though, and kick the can a little farther down the road while the settlements expand.

I actually full agree with you for once.

It's such a great offer: We'll allow a Palestinian entity to exist as long as it is completely dependent on us and under our thumb from now to eternity...

[FaithInOne]

2087 Forum.



3012 Forum.




4053 Forum.