Prime Minister Netanyahu (archives)
Photo: AFP
PM: We must fix disengagement's mistakes
Netanyahu tells National Security Cabinet, 'Theses which guided the pullout from Gaza have collapsed'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday during a National Security Cabinet discussion that "the theses which guided the disengagement from Gaza have collapsed – and we must say this with all integrity."
The most significant decision made during the meeting was to release 20 female Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a videotape containing a sign of life from kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
Gaza Pullout
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Speaking a day after the state commission of inquiry into the handling of Gush Katif evacuees released its interim report, Netanyahu claimed that "there were theses that supported the pullout. One was that the pullout would promote peace and halt any attacks or firing of missiles from the Gaza Strip. According to the second one, even if the missile attacks on Israel would not be halted, we would have international legitimization to respond to aggression with all our force.
"We must say this with all integrity – these two assumptions have collapsed," Netanyahu told the cabinet. "The logic of these theses has collapsed completely. Today we are required to fix mistakes made in the past. We must guarantee that territories adjacent to the urban centers of the State of Israel would be demilitarized and won't be able to turn into terror and missile bases against Israel," he explained.
'No probe into Gaza operation'
According to sources in the Prime Minister's Office, the issue of launching a probe into the Israel Defense Forces' actions during Operation Cast Lead had not been discussed.Associates of Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak rejected publications that Israel was seeking to appoint a state commission of inquiry into the IDF's operations in Gaza.
"The matter was neither discussed by the cabinet, nor by a ministerial committee or any other narrow forum," a state official clarified.
Netanyahu added during the discussion, "We must exert all measures in order to guarantee our right for self-defense. What is clear now is that Israel won't be able to take changes for the peace process and for promoting procedures, while at the same time there are procedures against the soldiers, officers and commanders of the IDF and against Israel's statesmen."
On the backdrop of the lawsuit filed against Defense Minister Barak in Britain, the prime minister said that after the holiday of Sukkot he would hold a cabinet discussion on the ramifications of the UN committee's report into the Gaza operation. The discussion is aimed at examining and debating the steps Israel should take.
Netanyahu also slammed the Goldstone Report in a meeting with foreign ambassadors. "The UN committee in Geneva may be a disaster for peace and a disaster for the war on terror," he said.
