Begin: Palestinians only want one state

Likud minister rejects two-state solution on grounds Palestinians refuse to accept Israel as Jewish state

Attila Somfalvi
Published: 06.10.09, 21:56 / Israel News

Minister Benny Begin rejected the US-backed two-state solution Wednesday, explaining that the Palestinians were not willing to announce such an agreement would put an end to their demands of Israel.

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Begin said he believed the Palestinians' two-stage plan was comprised of "two states on the path to one state – Palestine".

"The reality of the past 15 years is territory for terror, not peace," the minister told a conference of Likud Party founders in Tel Aviv. He said this included "territories ceded following agreements and territories given away unilaterally".

Begin added that the "theory of two states for two people" has also deteriorated over recent years. "If this is the only solution then there is no solution," he said, mentioning negotiations held at Camp David in 2000 and the recent negotiations held by the previous government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"The reason for the failures is not a lack of willingness to make concessions on the part of Israel," the Likud minister added. "The Palestinians are interested in two stages, not two states."

He said the Palestinians were refusing to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state in order to keep their status as refugees and to fight for their right of return. "They do not acknowledge the legitimacy of a Jewish state in what they see as holy Palestine," he said.

Begin also claimed construction in settlements was "not an obstacle to peace, otherwise peace would have been born on the ruins of Katif".

He said no arrangement would be able to top the Annapolis Peace Summit. "Why keep banging our heads against the wall?" he concluded. "We can't cede more than the 97% Olmert agreed to give. The problem is the basic refusal to see a Jewish state."

The minister said peace must be built "from the bottom, with the construction of institutions, efficient war on terror, and the alteration of fundamental factors in Palestinian education".

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