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Netanyahu: Palestinian Leaders Must Say They Accept "the Jewish State"

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - On the eve of a meeting of Quartet envoys in Brussels to review ways to restart the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the closing session of the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem on Thursday that the end to the conflict will begin with the Palestinian leaders uttering six simple words: "I will accept the Jewish state." Netanyahu said that peace has eluded the sides for 90 years because the Palestinians never accepted Israel's existence in the region, within any borders. Israel seeks to get a clear Palestinian statement about Israel as a Jewish state front-loaded into any formula on restarting negotiations that might mention the baseline for talks as the 1967 lines, with mutual agreed swaps. "President Abbas must do what I did two years ago: he must stand up to his people and say, 'I will accept the Jewish state.'" Netanyahu said this in no way will impinge upon the rights of Arab citizens in Israel, but that a two-state solution must end any hope of further subdividing the Jewish state and calls for a "sub-state" for Arabs in the Negev or Galilee.
2011-06-24 00:00:00
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