NOVANEWS
PM, defense minister indicate the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as Jewish state is deterring peace.
jpost.com
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reiterated Sunday his accusation that the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the Palestinian Authorities’ encouragement of incitement against Israel, and the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
At the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, ministers discussed a periodic report said to measure the scope of Palestinian incitement.
“We are not foreigners in Jerusalem, we are not foreigners in Beit El, we are not foreigners in Hebron. I repeat that this is the root of the conflict as well as the root of incitement that does not recognize this basic fact” to have a Jewish state.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon echoed Netanyahu’s statements, saying peace cannot be achieved until the PA stops its incitement against Israel and starts educating for peace instead.
“A basic element in Israeli education is the aspiration for peace. In the Palestinian Authority, that doesn’t exist.”
“The first stage of the road map, that obligates the PA to stop the incitement and to educate for peace, did not happen. [Former prime minister] Yitzhak Rabin demanded in Oslo that the Palestinian treaty is also changed, and it hasn’t been changed to this very day either,” Ya’alon said.
The Palestinians’ refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state “is the heart of the conflict,” Ya’alon said. “It all starts with education – without education, no technology can help.”
“The Palestinians receive money from states that donate to educational institutes in the PA, and still teach incitement and racism based on Adolf Hitler quotes. They claim there is no Jewish people,” he added.
US Secretary of State John Kerry was slated to return to Israel on Sunday night following a brief trip to Jordan and Saudi Arabia to discuss his talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the weekend.
He was expected to meet on Monday with Netanyahu to continue his shuttle diplomacy.
“This has been a productive couple of days,” Kerry told reporters after three days of separate talks with Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Kerry said all of the major issues in the conflict – borders, security, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem – were under discussion.
