In contrast to previous Israeli leaderships who refused surreptitiously to adopt the two-state solution in occupied Palestine, the Benjamin Netanyahu cabinet is distinguished by frankness.
Israeli vice president and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon played his cards and ruled out the creation of any “Palestinian entity” at a conference at the Knesset on Tuesday entitled "Alternatives to the Two-State Outlook." He added that “efforts to find a solution to the conflict must stop.”
The conference came after Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington and as the US and Europe are sending clear messages to Israel to adopt a two-state solution in occupied territories.
According to Israeli media, the Knesset conference was intended to send a message that opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state was common among mainstream Israelis and politicians not considered extremist. He said the best that could be done now was to stop efforts to find a solution to the conflict and manage it instead, “by encouraging reforms and economic development in the Palestinian Authority.”
Speakers included the Deputy Prime Minister, Moshe Yaalon, who was not around the bush, and that "a Palestinian state will provide no security stability".
Other plans presented at the conference called for a confederation between the West Bank and Jordan, and the extension of the Gaza Strip into the Egyptian-controlled Sinai Desert.
The statement was a clear reply to Western leaders, particularly French president Nicolas Sarkozy who had suggested that the creation of a Palestinian state was a safety factor for the Zionist entity.
Yaalon goes even further in his argument, adopting a rather belligerent tone: "I do not see any chance of establishing a viable Palestinian entity in Judea and Samaria and/or the Gaza Strip that could sustain itself economically," Ya'alon said. "The gap between Israel as a First-World country and a Palestinian Third-World country is a recipe for instability. I also don't see a chance to form a viable Palestinian entity in Judea and Samaria and/or the Gaza Strip that could bring stability on the security front, while chances the entity would be adversarial are very high."
Of course, Yaalon ignores the real causes of this divide, which lies in the Israeli settlements. Another sign of refusal to the solution of two states is the Israel’s mulishness to keep major settlements in the occupied West Bank, (Ma'ale Yadoumim and others), and to go for expanding them under the guise of redressing the growing population, without considering UN resolutions.
Note that all zionist leaders, have adopted the same policy with regards to the settlements issue; that of colonialism and expansion of outposts to impose an indisputable status quo while keeping what they call “illegal” settlements” to discussion whenever pressure is exerted to stop colonization.
In parallel, Netanyahu tirelessly reiterates his predecessors’ position on the question of Jerusalem, which according to the UN, should be divided to become the capital of two states. He says that Jerusalem will remain the exclusive capital of the zionist entity. He even canceled a planned visit to France next week to protest against a recent French position refusing any decisions taken in advance on the final status of this city.
In view of this rampant Israeli stubbornness, European and American “requests” have always been vain and the Israelis have always managed to “absorb and prevent” western powers from taking actions against the zionist state, like sanctions.
The masks of Netanyahu, Lieberman and others have fallen as they reject the two-state solution and want no end to the conflict. Accordingly, the international community no longer has any reason not to move to sanctions, unless it is an accomplice. In this case, the mask of this community should fall as well.
And still, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continues to express confidence in the zionist entity. Following his meeting with Obama in Washington on Thursday (28-05-09) he said: "It was a serious and open meeting and President Obama seems determined on what he has said...I believe that if the Israelis would withdraw from all occupied Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese land, the Arab world will be ready to have normal relationships with the state of Israel!”
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