Israel Hayom..
24 January '14..
This is not about one specific piece of paper or another. It is also not that important whether a framework agreement is crafted, or a just a frame to an agreement. The title is not what matters, and neither is the debate on whether or not such a deal should or should not be accepted. One thing, however, is becoming clear: The true obstacle for peace is the Palestinians themselves.
The Palestinians' insistent refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish people's rightful homeland exposes the most sensitive nerve in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is not a territorial dispute, but rather one that focuses on the very essence and existence of the State of Israel.
When Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas repeatedly says, "Palestine could never recognize Israel as a Jewish state," he reveals the most basic truth about the very nature of the conflict. In a way, we should welcome his honesty.
Unlike certain members of the Israeli public, who believe the root of the conflict lies with our victory in the 1967 Six-Day War and the settlement enterprise across Judea and Samaria, Abbas' words reveal their own fundamental truth about how the Palestinians view Israel's existence.
This means that the flawed "two states for two peoples" formula is not applicable. The Palestinians themselves denounce it, and in this case -- they only reinforce the perception that forming a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria would be a mistake.
We have been here for 4,000 years. The hills of Judea and Samaria are the very cradle of the Jewish people's history, and unlike the lies the Arab MKs incessantly foster, the Jewish settlement of the land of Israel has always been continuous.
From a security standpoint, the inception of a Palestinian state would be a strategic catastrophe. The ridges overlooking the majority of Israel's population could easily be taken over by Hamas, world jihad and al-Qaida terrorists -- a nightmare scenario which has already become a reality in Gaza Strip, where we had retreated back to the 1967 lines.
We expected the end of terrorism, since the territorial dispute had been resolved, but reality soon proved otherwise. Are Ashdod, Ashkelon, Sderot and Ofakim cities are under occupation? According to the Palestinians, who do not spare them rocket salvoes, the answer is yes.
From a broader perspective, the Middle East has recently undergone changes the likes of which the region has not seen since the end of WWI. Since the onset of the Arab Spring, governments have come and gone in Egypt and in Libya, and the bloody civil war in Syria has already claimed over 130,000 victims with no end in sight. Concession will not bring peace closer -- it will only increase terror; and a gradual withdrawal, as suggested by the United States, will destabilize the area rather than stabilize it.
The Palestinian themselves have stated that they have no interest in the two-state formula. They aspire for a Palestinian state "free of Jews" in Judea and Samaria, as Abbas had put it and another state in the Gaza Strip, which will also be "Jew-free" and has already become a terrorist base that threatens half of Israel's territory. They want another state alongside those two, in sovereign Israel, which will not be the Jewish state but a binational state.
In other words, the Palestinians do not want two states for two people, but three states for one people -- the Palestinian people. That is the core of the conflict.
The simplistic notion that forming a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines will resolve the conflict is fictional at best and malicious deceit at worst. When reading the conclusions of the recent report about the Palestinian incitement against Israel, it is very hard to misunderstand our neighbors' intentions. If you truly seek peace, you do not teach your children to hate.
The Palestinians are not under Israeli occupation. Some 98 percent of them vote for the Palestinian parliament and run their own affairs. What is needed now is the continued governance of the Palestinians by the Palestinian Authority and the expansion of regional economic cooperation between the Palestinians, Jordan and Egypt.
Israel is required to continue to safeguard the security of its citizens in the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria -- and to stay put.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=7135
MK Ofir Akunis (Likud) is a deputy minister at the Prime Minister's Office.
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