http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14907President Shimon Peres has called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state "unnecessary" and a possible impediment to peace talks. In conversations with diplomatic and political officials in recent weeks, Peres said it was possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians now, with American assistance.
Despite the relationship between Netanyahu and Peres being described as "strained" of late, Peres publicly aims to maintain a unified front and does not contradict Netanyahu's stance that Israel must be recognized as a Jewish state. In public, Peres states that Israel is a Jewish country, although he says its security will be assured only with the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Peres and Netanyahu were expected to fly together on Wednesday to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Peres' office has declined comment on the matter.
Peres' stance is similar to that of Yesh Atid Chairman and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who, in an interview last month, called the demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state "nonsense." Netanyahu, however, continues to tout the demand as the heart of the conflict, saying that while it was not a condition for entering negotiations, it is a condition for completing them.
Netanyahu addressed the issue on Tuesday at a press conference in Jerusalem with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"Now, there are two things that I want to puncture, two prevailing myths," Netanyahu said. "The first one, which was repeated ad nauseam ... until recently, everybody who knew anything about the Middle East explained that ... the core of the conflict in the Middle East was the Palestinian problem.
"The core of the many conflicts of the Middle East is not the Palestinian conflict. But what is the core of the Palestinian conflict itself? And here you have another great myth, and the myth is that the core is basically the settlements.
"This conflict began in 1920, 1921, with the attack on the Jewish immigration depot -- murderous attack -- in Jaffa ... and it continued right up to 1967 when the West Bank, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza were firmly in Arab hands.
"Hamas in not interested in the settlements; they got the settlements. Hamas is not interested in territory; they got the territory. Hamas is not interested in the '67 borders; they got it. Hamas is interested in eliminating Israel.
"Here's the core of the conflict and here is the key to its solution: The core of the conflict is not settlements; the core of the conflict is not the territories; the core of the conflict is not the absence of a Palestinian state. The core of the conflict is the persistent refusal to reconcile to an independent nation-state of the Jewish people.
"If the Palestinians expect me and my people to recognize a nation-state for the Palestinian people, surely we can expect them to recognize a nation-state for the Jewish people. After all, we've only been here four millennia. That's it; that's what this is about.
"And you know, when that begins, that will be a great day. When that actually happens, when there is a Palestinian leader -- I hope it's [Palestinian Authority President] Mr. [Mahmoud] Abbas -- when he has the courage to give what I call the Birzeit speech, because I gave a speech at Bar-Ilan University in which I spoke about two states for two peoples ... if he's willing to do that, that'll be important. Does it guarantee that this will percolate into the Palestinian society? I don't know. They've been, you know, using a lot of incitement and a culture of hate has been instilled there for generations, but it's a beginning. It's an important beginning, a necessary beginning."
Netanyahu and Kerry to meet in Davos
During his stay at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Netanyahu is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the principles of a framework agreement with the Palestinians.
Ra'am-Ta'al MK Ahmad Tibi, who is close to Abbas, said on Tuesday that Kerry was taking a sympathetic stance toward Israel, mentioning two issues. The first was Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as a capital of their future state, and on which Kerry suggested a stance Israel can live with, reframing the demand as "the Palestinians have ambitions for Jerusalem."
The second issue deals with security arrangements. Having originally set a limited Israeli presence for a period of between 10 and 40 years, Kerry is no longer talking about a limited period, but "a period that will be followed by a decision based on performance if an Israeli presence should remain in the area."
The decision on security and Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley is to be made by the Israelis. According to Tibi, the Palestinians do not agree with this decision, and diplomatic officials in Jerusalem have confirmed that these proposals are being discussed.
Meanwhile, Abbas has said he does not agree to extending the length of negotiations past the nine months initially allotted.
"We will not agree to extending the negotiations. It was agreed in advance that the negotiations would last nine months, we have had many rounds of talks so there is no reason to talk about extending, rather we should focus on the remaining time," he said on Tuesday in a joint press conference with Romanian President Traian Basescu.
"Our goal is to end the Israeli occupation that began in 1967," Abbas said. "We want an independent and sovereign state with east Jerusalem as its capital, [a state] that will live side by side with Israel in security and with good relations."
Topic: Senile Kapo Peres: Recognition of Israel as Jewish state 'unnecessary' (Read 518 times)