Children in Neve Dekalim - Peretz says all settlements are Anti-Zionist
צילום: גדי קבלו
‘Gaza settlements anti-Zionist’
Labor Knesset Member Amir Peretz slams Gaza settlers, Finance Minister Netanyahu
JERUSALEM - Harsh words: No act is more anti-Zionist than Gaza Strip settlements - this was the unusually harsh charge leveled by Labor party leadership candidate Amir Peretz Wednesday during a speech at Caesarea Conference in Jerusalem.
“The settlers scream out that they sacrificed, but they haven’t sacrificed a thing,” Peretz said. “Firstly, they live there in the lagoon and employ foreign workers for NIS 50 (about USD 11) a day, secondly, they rob a fortune from the state that funds their life there, and thirdly they get huge compensation from the government for the evacuation. This is called sacrifice?”
During his speech, Peretz launched a scathing attack against both settlers and governments that have continued to invest in the territories at the expense of smaller towns within the Green Line.
“The future of the State of Israel doesn’t interest them at all,” he said, referring to Gaza settlers.
‘Israel has lost its morals’
Peretz then directed his ire at Netanyahu and slammed him for his objection to the pullout plan.
“Netanyahu provided the evacuees with another backwind,” he said.
Peretz stressed he supports the pullout not for economic reasons, but rather, for one reason alone, namely the moral price paid by Israel’s presence in Palestinian areas.
“The State of Israel has lost its morals,” he said. “Violence in society stems from our presence in the territories.”
