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Israel at UN: When Will the Palestinians Say Yes to Peace?
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Amb. Danny Danon - Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the UN General Assembly on Monday: If the Arab states and the Arabs of Mandatory Palestine had accepted the existence of a Jewish state, Israelis and Palestinians would have been spared decades of needless conflict. But instead of saying yes to living side-by-side with Israel in peace, the Palestinians said no - no to peace, and no to the existence of a Jewish state. The root cause of the conflict is the unwillingness of the Palestinians - even now - to accept a Jewish state in any part of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Why did the Palestinians reject peace offers which would have granted them a state - not once, but three times? Why did they launch violent waves of terror every time they had the opportunity for statehood? After Israel signed the Oslo accords [in 1993] and recognized the PLO, shooting, stabbings, and suicide bombing took the lives of nearly 300 Israelis. Following Arafat's rejection of a state for the Palestinians at the Camp David Summit in 2000, the Palestinian leadership ignited a five-year intifada in which more than 1,000 Israelis were killed. Since Israel withdrew all of its security forces and evacuated all Israeli communities from Gaza in 2005, more than 11,000 rockets have rained down on Israeli cities. If Palestinian leaders really want peace, why do they refuse to sit in the same room with the Israeli prime minister and negotiate? If Palestinian leaders truly want a home for the Palestinian people, why do they reject the very idea of a home for the Jewish people? If Palestinian leaders are concerned for the protection of their own people, why do they encourage and incite them to terror and violence?