CMEP Bulletin: Netanyahu Rains on Peace Talks
#palestine, #israel
Amid news that peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will intensify their talks with more U.S. oversight, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech that raised more questions about his willingness to make a deal.
On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Netanyahu stood at the same podium where he gave his first speech recognizing the two-state solution four and a half years ago. He told the audience that it is not settlements and occupation that are obstacles to peace. Instead, he referred to the pre-1967 history, such as the Arab rejection of the Partition Plan in 1947 as evidence Palestinians are not ready to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
Barak Ravid writes in Haaretz, “For over a month, right-wing members of the coalition have been telling anyone willing to listen that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to make a dramatic diplomatic move – a permanent agreement, intermediate arrangement or unilateral move that would necessitate a territorial withdrawal, uprooting settlements and establishing a Palestinian state…Sunday evening the prime minister allayed their fears.”