Meridor: We Won't Return to '67 Lines; J’lem Our Capital
25/08/2009 Israeli Intelligence Affairs Minister Dan Meridor told German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published Tuesday that nobody expects Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to offer more than what former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas."
Meridor was speaking with the magazine ahead of Netanyahu's visit to Berlin, one of the stations on his European trip this week. In the interview, Meridor detailed the Israeli government's readiness to resume negotiations with the Palestinians, announced by Netanyahu in Sunday's cabinet meeting before of his departure.
Meridor rejected the interviewer's characterization of the current Israeli administration as "hard-line," and pointed out that Abbas currently refuses to negotiate until Israel completely freezes settlement activity, despite the fact that he negotiated with Olmert for three years during the reign of President George W. Bush, when Israel's settlement policy was, Meridor said, identical to Netanyahu's.
He also assessed that Abbas's current position was affected by internal issues. Perhaps Abbas reacted the way he did because he doesn't control Gaza, where 40 percent of the territories' population lives and into which he cannot even travel. Perhaps he wants even more than just the Palestinian state; but there is nothing more to give," Meridor said.
When confronted with speeches made last week by Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who on a recent tour of the West Bank expressed support for the settlers, Meridor countered: "Ours is a big coalition government with diverging views. What you describe is neither the official policy of Prime Minister Netanyahu nor the official policy of the government."
"We haven't built any new settlements, so we are fulfilling the understanding we've reached with the previous US administration. Now there are some ongoing discussions about a compromise," Meridor clarified.
Drawing a red line, Meridor said, "The Old City with the Jewish Quarter and the Wailing Wall will never be part of an Arab state; all the major Israeli parties share this conviction. There could be a compromise on land in Judea and Samaria. But all Israeli governments have agreed on having a united Jerusalem. This is our clear position, but we can negotiate about Jerusalem. There are no preconditions."
"Final borders," the minister added, "are open for discussion. But we will not return to the line of 1967 - that's for sure."
Meridor added that he was optimistic about the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Moving on to the issue of Iran's nuclear pursuit, Meridor, whose dossier as intelligence affairs minister centers on the Iranian issue, refused to divulge Israel's plans should the international effort to stymie Iran's ambitions fail.
"I don't think the prime minister has made up his mind whether to attack Iran militarily," he said, "but I don't want to get into details…"
"I think Iran shouldn't be allowed to become a nuclear power. This would mean the end of the (Nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty [of which Israel is not a signatory]; it would be a serious threat for us. One shouldn't forget that Iranian President Ahmadinejad has repeatedly spoken about the illegitimacy of Israel and its destruction. But we should concentrate now on harsher sanctions against Tehran, with America leading the way. And we are counting on the Europeans to follow with serious actions. This includes Germany, which is one of Iran's very important trading partners," the minister said.
Asked whether Israel would attack Iran on its own or ask for US consent, he said "I don't want to go into this. But we all see the clock ticking - and Netanyahu knows what he's doing."
25/08/2009 Israeli Intelligence Affairs Minister Dan Meridor told German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published Tuesday that nobody expects Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to offer more than what former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas."
Meridor was speaking with the magazine ahead of Netanyahu's visit to Berlin, one of the stations on his European trip this week. In the interview, Meridor detailed the Israeli government's readiness to resume negotiations with the Palestinians, announced by Netanyahu in Sunday's cabinet meeting before of his departure.
Meridor rejected the interviewer's characterization of the current Israeli administration as "hard-line," and pointed out that Abbas currently refuses to negotiate until Israel completely freezes settlement activity, despite the fact that he negotiated with Olmert for three years during the reign of President George W. Bush, when Israel's settlement policy was, Meridor said, identical to Netanyahu's.
He also assessed that Abbas's current position was affected by internal issues. Perhaps Abbas reacted the way he did because he doesn't control Gaza, where 40 percent of the territories' population lives and into which he cannot even travel. Perhaps he wants even more than just the Palestinian state; but there is nothing more to give," Meridor said.
When confronted with speeches made last week by Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who on a recent tour of the West Bank expressed support for the settlers, Meridor countered: "Ours is a big coalition government with diverging views. What you describe is neither the official policy of Prime Minister Netanyahu nor the official policy of the government."
"We haven't built any new settlements, so we are fulfilling the understanding we've reached with the previous US administration. Now there are some ongoing discussions about a compromise," Meridor clarified.
Drawing a red line, Meridor said, "The Old City with the Jewish Quarter and the Wailing Wall will never be part of an Arab state; all the major Israeli parties share this conviction. There could be a compromise on land in Judea and Samaria. But all Israeli governments have agreed on having a united Jerusalem. This is our clear position, but we can negotiate about Jerusalem. There are no preconditions."
"Final borders," the minister added, "are open for discussion. But we will not return to the line of 1967 - that's for sure."
Meridor added that he was optimistic about the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Moving on to the issue of Iran's nuclear pursuit, Meridor, whose dossier as intelligence affairs minister centers on the Iranian issue, refused to divulge Israel's plans should the international effort to stymie Iran's ambitions fail.
"I don't think the prime minister has made up his mind whether to attack Iran militarily," he said, "but I don't want to get into details…"
"I think Iran shouldn't be allowed to become a nuclear power. This would mean the end of the (Nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty [of which Israel is not a signatory]; it would be a serious threat for us. One shouldn't forget that Iranian President Ahmadinejad has repeatedly spoken about the illegitimacy of Israel and its destruction. But we should concentrate now on harsher sanctions against Tehran, with America leading the way. And we are counting on the Europeans to follow with serious actions. This includes Germany, which is one of Iran's very important trading partners," the minister said.
Asked whether Israel would attack Iran on its own or ask for US consent, he said "I don't want to go into this. But we all see the clock ticking - and Netanyahu knows what he's doing."
No comments:
Post a Comment