(Prime Minister's Office) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - Addressing the Knesset at the opening of its winter session Monday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said: "For 100 years, the Palestinians have taught entire generations to believe that there is no Jewish people, that this land is their homeland alone. The refusal to recognize the rights of the Jewish people and its historic connection to its land is the root of the conflict, and without dealing with it, there will be no end to the conflict." "Any peace agreement between the Palestinians and us must be based on strong security arrangements in the field. We left Lebanon and Gaza without such security arrangements, and we suffered thousands of rockets fired at the Negev and the Galilee....I will not allow Iranian missiles to be positioned 500 meters from Kfar Saba, or scant kilometers from Ben-Gurion Airport." "We must not take these security problems too lightly, and we must not allow ourselves to be tempted by the illusion that a peace agreement, in and of itself, will resolve them. We once had peaceful, normal relations...[with] Iran....Things have changed in Iran, and unfortunately in other places as well, almost overnight, and no one can promise us that, despite our desire, a similar thing won't happen after the establishment of a peace agreement with the Palestinians." "Therefore we must insist on strong security arrangements in the field...in order to ensure that the peace will be upheld in practice, and also in order to defend our existence in the unfortunate but possible case that the peace is violated." "During the past several weeks, I have explored every path to ensuring the continuation of the [peace] talks. I asked myself - what could convince the government and, more so, the citizens of Israel, that the Palestinians are truly ready to live with us in peace? What would show that there has been a genuine change on the Palestinian side - something that would demonstrate to us, the majority of the public, that they are not only demanding concessions by Israel, not only issuing dictates, but that they are ready to take a meaningful step towards us." "If the Palestinian leadership will unequivocally say to its people that it recognizes Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, I will be ready to convene my government and ask for another suspension of construction [in the West Bank] for a fixed period. Because the Palestinians expect us to recognize the Palestinian state as their nation-state, we can expect them to recognize the Jewish state as our nation-state."
2010-10-12 09:20:57Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive