RAMALLAH, West Bank: Arabs decried Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Sunday outlining his vision of a Palestinian state as unacceptable while the United States and Europe gave their guarded approval of his accepting the idea of two states.
“The vision which the Israeli prime minister presented ... is flawed and lacks many elements and therefore requires substantial development to meet the level of international and Arab efforts for a just, permanent and comprehensive Middle East peace,” an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that a call to recognize Israel as a Jewish state “increases the complexity of the matter (of achieving peace) and aborts the chance for peace.” In his speech at Bar-Ilan University, Netanyahu said Palestinians must recognize the Jewish nature of the state of Israel.
He also said Israel would accept a Palestinian state only if it is completely demilitarized. He ruled out the resettlement of Palestinian refugees within the borders of Israel and a halt to settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu’s speech set further preconditions for negotiations and, in effect, announced Israel’s intention to unilaterally dictate a solution, rather than negotiate peace. “Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about negotiations, but left us with nothing to negotiate as he systematically took nearly every permanent status issue off the table. Nor did he accept a Palestinian state; instead, he announced a series of conditions and qualifications that render a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state impossible,” Erekat said.
Speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, former US President Jimmy Carter said Netanyahu has placed several obstacles on the road to peace. “He insists on settlement expansion and demands that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state even though 20 percent of Israel’s citizens are not Jewish.”
The Palestinian public also slammed the speech. Trader Salam Khatib said that a “Palestinian state must be equal to Israel in every respect: land, border, army, nuclear capability and sea border. Most importantly, all refugees must return to their stolen homes in Palestine of 1948.”
Ahmed Salim, a Palestinian refugee, said that Netanyahu “can wait one thousand years to find one single Palestinian who accepts his plan.”
Yousef Ali, a student at An Najah University at Nablus, said Netanyahu’s speech should be an eye-opener for Arab governments, which should cancel their initiative and stop making compromises.
But the White House termed the address “an important step forward” for implementing President Barack Obama’s peace vision. The European Union described the speech as “a step in the right direction” but said it was not enough to raise EU-Israeli ties to a higher level. Nihad Awad, national executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that Netanyahu rejected Obama’s clear demand that Israel stop building illegal settlements.
“By placing more roadblocks in the path of peace, Netanyahu is only seeking to buy more time to expand the settlements and to strengthen Israel’s stranglehold on the Palestinian people,” Awad added.
Thomas R. Mattair, author and Mideast consultant based in Washington, D.C., said that although Netanyahu has finally said that Israel will be willing to negotiate for a Palestinian state, he has attached so many conditions that it is not attractive to Palestinians.
Ori Nir, spokesperson at Americans for Peace Now, a Washington-based American Jewish organization that advocates peace in the Middle East, said: “The importance of Netanyahu’s speech — the acceptance of a Palestinian state living next to Israel in peace and security — was unfortunately shrouded by layers of hollow preconditions, anachronistic proscriptions and negotiations nonstarters.
“Netanyahu’s tone, unfortunately, was condescending and grudging rather than forthcoming. It lacked in vision and it did not meet the minimal requirement for creating the circumstances in which negotiations can be held in earnest. It is now up to the Obama administration to follow up with Netanyahu and make sure that his acceptance of the two-state principle does not drown in the ocean of conditions that Netanyahu raised.” Analyzing Netanyahu’s character, Jim Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, said: “I’ve debated him before, and he has no concept of the truth, and words mean nothing to him. He will say he’s ready to talk with no preconditions, but then will proceed to define all sorts of preconditions regarding Jerusalem.
“He’s a person who has gotten away with this kind of behavior throughout his political career. But I don’t think he will get away with this with President Obama, because Obama has said he wants an outcome, and Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has said this is not a situation where they’re going to roll over to protect Netanyahu.”
— With input from Barbara Ferguson from Washington
