(Jerusalem Post) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a dispute over territory, but over the Palestinian refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state and to declare an end to the conflict, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Sunday. "The core of the conflict is not territory which was liberated or occupied or taken in '67," he said. "The conflict started early on since the dawn of Zionism, and unfortunately I don't see a leadership on the Palestinian side that is ready to say that if we reach a compromise on territory it would be the end of claims." Although he favored negotiations with the Palestinians, he was not ready to discuss an Israeli pullback from "an inch" of the West Bank as long as the government of Mahmoud Abbas was not willing to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. "I support the negotiations, I support any political engagement, but we should tell the truth to ourselves and not delude ourselves and deceive ourselves regarding President Mahmoud Abbas' intentions," Ya'alon said.
2014-02-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive