Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Israel has been doing its part for peace - the Palestinians haven’t


"....The 20 years that have passed since Israel entered the peace process have been marked by unprecedented steps that Israel has taken to advance peace.  I mean, we vacated cities in Judea and Samaria.  We left entirely Gaza.  We’ve not only frozen settlements, we’ve uprooted entire settlements.  We’ve released hundreds of terrorist prisoners, including dozens in recent months.
And when you look at what we got in return, it’s been scores of suicide bombings, thousands of rockets on our cities fired from the areas we vacated, and just incessant Palestinian incitement against Israel.  So Israel has been doing its part, and I regret to say that the Palestinians haven’t.
Now, I know this flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but it’s the truth.  And the people of Israel know that it’s the truth because they’ve been living it.  What they want is peace.  What we all want fervently is peace.  Not a piece a paper –- although that, too -- but a real peace; a peace that is anchored in mutual recognition of two nation states that recognize and respect one another, and solid security arrangements on the ground.
Mr. President, you rightly said that Israel, the Jewish state, is the realization of the Jewish people’s self-determination in our ancestral homeland.  So the Palestinians expect us to recognize a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people, a nation state for the Palestinian people.  I think it’s about time they recognize a nation state for the Jewish people.  We’ve only been there for 4,000 years.
And I hope President Abbas does this, as I hope that he’ll take seriously Israel’s genuine security needs.  Because, as you know and I think everybody does, in the Middle East, which is definitely the most turbulent and violent part of the Earth, the only peace that will endure is a peace that we can defend.  And we’ve learned from our history -- Jewish history, but I think from general history -- that the best way to guarantee peace is to be strong.  And that’s what the people of Israel expect me to do –- to stand strong against criticism, against pressure, stand strong to secure the future of the one and only Jewish state...."

1 comment:

Steve said...

Bibi Netanyahu is absolutely correct when he points out that Israel has been doing all the sacrificing and these Arabs who only started to call themselves Palestinians after 1967 and choose a life of terrorism against a peace loving nation like Israel has no right to demand any thing. If the Arabs really want to help their fellow Arabs then they should stop funding terrorism against Israel and give their Arab brethren some of their massive amounts of land. The whole world is so bias and perverted. They cant see right from wrong anymore. How much more will Israel suffer before the world come to their senses that Israel has contributed so much to the benefit of the good of the world and Israel is not the aggressor but the victim.