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Last update - 12:16 15/06/2009
Ya'alon: Netanyahu speech laid bare Palestinian rejectionism
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Bibi Speech, Israel News 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration of support for limited Palestinian statehood in a key speech Sunday laid bare Palestinian rejectionism, Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon said Monday.

"I agree with what was said," Ya'alon, who is also strategic affairs minister, told Army Radio. "I know this reality well; I think there was a very important statement that formulated the internal Israeli consensus in the face of Palestinian rejectionism."
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In the speech, Netanyahu said Israel would agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the condition that it was demilitarized and that the Palestinians recognized Israel as the state of the Jewish people.

(Click here for the full text of Netanyahu's speech.)

Ya'alon, a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff who opposed Israel's 2005 pullout from the Gaza Strip, added that the debate over whether Netanyahu had supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before the speech was unnecessary, as being merely over semantics.

"What did the prime minister say before the speech? 'We don't want to rule them. I am prepared to strengthen them so that they can rule themselves,'" he said.

'Netanyahu lost support of nationalist camp'

On Sunday, Netanyahu's address was met with mixed responses from across the political spectrum.

Both Israeli Arab and rightist political leaders blasted the speech as political spin, while President Shimon Peres praised it as "strengthening Israel's international position and opening the door to direct peace negotiations."

"The Prime Minister's speech was a true and courageous speech that referred to the main issue - the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel, the state of the Jewish People," said Peres.

"These remarks, which were enunciated in a clear voice, are very important regarding the strengthening of stability in the Middle East and constitute an opening of direct negotiations towards both a regional peace and a bilateral peace between Israel and the Palestinians."

MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) accused Netanyahu of violating his own promises and said the nationalist camp could no longer support his policies.

"Today the prime minister lost the leadership of the nationalist camp by not only transgressing his own red lines, but by converting from his own religion," said Eldad of Netanyahu's declaration that he would accept the creation of a Palestinian state so long as the international community could guarantee it remains demilitarized.

"With the expression 'demilitarized Palestinian state,' Netanyahu is trying to eat a pig butchered in a kosher way," he added. "There is no such thing as a demilitarized state, Netanyahu knows very well that no political force on earth can prevent a country from arming itself or signing military treaties like any other country."

MK Zevulun Orlev, of the Jewish Home party, said that the policy represented a drastic change in stance and was an affront to the coalition agreement.

"Netanyahu offered lip service by agreeing to a demilitarized Palestinian state, thus disappointing most of his coalition partners," he said. "Netanyahu's speech requires a serious coalition discussion to ensure that the democratic resolution as it was manifested in the elections will be represented in the government's policy."


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