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Israel to UN: Palestinian Bid for Statehood Will Not Bring Peace
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Amb. Ron Prosor - Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor told the UN Security Council on Tuesday: "I speak before this Council today as a proud representative of the Jewish state and the Jewish people - a people whose bond to the Land of Israel extends back 3,000 years. It is where we began and where we have been reborn, realizing the dreams of our forefathers to be a free people in our own land. Our Nation seeks a lasting peace in which the Palestinians will have their own state, alongside - but not instead of - the Jewish State of Israel." "Unilateral actions will not bring peace to our region. Like a false idol, the Palestinian initiatives at the United Nations may be superficially attractive to some. Yet, they distract from the true path to peace....Peace can only be achieved through bilateral negotiations that address the concerns of both sides." "This declaration will be in violation of the bilateral agreements that are the basis for Israeli-Palestinian cooperation." "Now is the time for the international community to tell the Palestinian leadership what it refuses to tell its own people: there are no shortcuts to statehood. You cannot bypass the only path to peace. The Palestinians will have to make compromises and make hard choices. They will have to get off the bandwagon of unilateralism." "For lasting peace to take hold, Israel's recognition of a future Palestinian state must be met with an equal acknowledgement that Israel is the Jewish state."