Israeli opposition party seeks diplomatic settlement with Palestinians

[webfact]

Israeli opposition party seeks diplomatic settlement with Palestinians
English.news.cn

JERUSALEM, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The center-left Zionist Union, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main political rival in the March 17 elections, presented Sunday its platform with an emphasis on achieving diplomatic settlement with the Palestinians.

The platform, launched at a press conference in Tel Aviv, presents two main goals: ending Israel's diplomatic isolation and curbing the rise of the housing prices.

The Zionist Union, a coalition of Isaac Herzog's Labor party and former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni's HaTnua party, said it will present a peace initiative to the Arab League in order to restart the peace talks, which were ceased in 2013.

The 40-page-long document proposes demilitarization of the Palestinian state, keeping the settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank under Israeli sovereignty, preserving Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel, and guaranteeing religious freedom and access to the Holy Places of all religions while maintaining Israeli sovereignty.

"This initiative reflects Israel's core values, which are expressed in the call for peace and good relations between Israel and its neighbors, alongside the unequivocal definition of the State of Israel as the nation of Jewish people," according to the platform.

Full story: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-03/09/c_134049048.htm

-- Xinhua 2015-03-09[/b]

[NeverSure]

"The 40-page-long document proposes demilitarization of the Palestinian state, keeping the settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank under Israeli sovereignty, preserving Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel, and guaranteeing religious freedom and access to the Holy Places of all religions while maintaining Israeli sovereignty"

The so-called Palestinians will be salivating to gobble this up.

[Costas2008]

The Israeli opposition are living in a dream world.

They have to understand that they can't seek diplomatic settlement with terrorists.

And if they come into power and try to do so they will fail as so many negotiations failed up to now.

[Seastallion]

What a sham!

It may gain popularity with Israelis as it appears to give the Palestinians nothing.

Hopefully it will dupe enough voters to oust Netanyahu, though.

[dexterm]

What the Zionist Union is offering at the moment will be unacceptable to the Palestinians without land swaps for the settlement blocs equivalent to 100% of 67 borders, a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, compensation for land occupied by Israel in 48 and 67. They don’t need a scattering of Bantustans that would not make a viable Palestinian state.

In that they have already come very close to this at Camp David under Ehud Barak, and in 2008 under lame duck PM Olmert in his final months, I don’t think they will accept anything less in a two state solution. All the Palestinians have to do is sit tight, and await EU and UN recognition, and EU sanctions if Israel exacerbates the problem further.

As I said in previous posts, the day will come when Israel will be begging the Palestinians to accept such a deal. Otherwise a one state solution will see Palestinians eventually becoming equal citizens who outvote Israeli Jews. The alternative is full blown apartheid, as outlined in an anti Netanyahu rally on Saturday:

“To those who say we don’t have any alternative, as somebody who worked directly with three prime ministers: there is a better alternative,” Dagan said. He and former Israeli general Amiram Levine, who also addressed the rally, both used the word “apartheid” to describe the direction Israel is headed”, 972 Magazine reported.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/08/israeli-mass-rally-calls-for-replacement-of-binyamin-netanyahu

S African apartheid collapsed quickly, as did the Berlin Wall. I think Israel’s moment of truth is near. Does Israel want to have a viable economic future as a state with a Jewish character in a 2 state solution, or does it want to see millions of Palestinian refugees returning to reclaim their stolen farms and homes, or to marry full Israeli Arab citizens and millions of Israeli Jews using their second passports to leave Israel for USA and Europe?

Up2u.

Edited March 9, 2015 by dexterm

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[humqdpf]

The Israeli opposition are living in a dream world.

They have to understand that they can't seek diplomatic settlement with terrorists.

And if they come into power and try to do so they will fail as so many negotiations failed up to now.

Just so I understand your definition of terrorist,, if someone comes to your land and takes it and you try to defend it, does that make you a terrorist?

Are all Palestinians, including the Christian and the muslim ones, terrorists? Is there some genetic component that makes them all terrorists or do you see them as terrorist by definition? Are the Palestinian people who live in Israel and are citizens also terrorists? Are their representatives in the Knesset also terrorists?

Is the Palestinian Authority a terrorist organisation? If so, you could accuse the Israeli state of collaborating with terrorists as they do collaborate with the Palestinian Authority on a very regular basis.

Just curious . . . . .

[Suradit69]

What the Zionist Union is offering at the moment will be unacceptable to the Palestinians without land swaps for the settlement blocs equivalent to 100% of 67 borders, a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, compensation for land occupied by Israel in 48 and 67. They don’t need a scattering of Bantustans that would not make a viable Palestinian state.

In that they have already come very close to this at Camp David under Ehud Barak, and in 2008 under lame duck PM Olmert in his final months, I don’t think they will accept anything less in a two state solution. All the Palestinians have to do is sit tight, and await EU and UN recognition, and EU sanctions if Israel exacerbates the problem further.

As I said in previous posts, the day will come when Israel will be begging the Palestinians to accept such a deal. Otherwise a one state solution will see Palestinians eventually becoming equal citizens who outvote Israeli Jews. The alternative is full blown apartheid, as outlined in an anti Netanyahu rally on Saturday:

“To those who say we don’t have any alternative, as somebody who worked directly with three prime ministers: there is a better alternative,” Dagan said. He and former Israeli general Amiram Levine, who also addressed the rally, both used the word “apartheid” to describe the direction Israel is headed”, 972 Magazine reported.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/08/israeli-mass-rally-calls-for-replacement-of-binyamin-netanyahu

S African apartheid collapsed quickly, as did the Berlin Wall. I think Israel’s moment of truth is near. Does Israel want to have a viable economic future as a state with a Jewish character in a 2 state solution, or does it want to see millions of Palestinian refugees returning to reclaim their stolen farms and homes, or to marry full Israeli Arab citizens and millions of Israeli Jews using their second passports to leave Israel for USA and Europe?

Up2u.

"They don’t need a scattering of Bantustans that would not make a viable Palestinian state."

Exactly. There are many parallels to the Apartheid regime in South Africa, one of them being the creation of isolated and walled off islands of Palestinian land like the forced removal of people to Bantustans in South Africa.

The Israeli opposition are living in a dream world.

They have to understand that they can't seek diplomatic settlement with terrorists.

And if they come into power and try to do so they will fail as so many negotiations failed up to now.

"They have to understand that they can't seek diplomatic settlement with terrorists."

The Israelis were labelled terrorists by the British in the past (and by many others in the present). And like with the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Rhodesia, the British huffed and puffed and did virtually nothing.

The King David Hotel bombing was a terrorist attack carried out on Monday July 22, 1946 by the militant Zionist underground organization, the Irgun, on the British military and administrative headquarters for Palestine, which was housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. 91 people of various nationalities were killed and 46 were injured.

The labeling of [Menachem] Begin as a terrorist is based on his activities against the British government in Palestine in the mid-1940s. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the British who first labeled Begin a terrorist. This label lost much of its force in the late 1970s, when Begin became Israel's prime minister. Today, whether he was a terrorist or not is still debated. At that time, Palestine was a quasi-independent British colony, known as a "Mandate." It was peopled by Palestinian Arabs and by an increasing number of European Jews.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Suradit69

[FritsSikkink]

The Israeli opposition are living in a dream world.

They have to understand that they can't seek diplomatic settlement with terrorists.

And if they come into power and try to do so they will fail as so many negotiations failed up to now.

The Israeli government are behaving like terrotists by bombing houses of civilians.

How can you get a settlement with these proposals?

• demilitarization of the Palestinian state,
• keeping the settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank under Israeli sovereignty,
• preserving Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel

​

[Jingthing]

This is an Israeli election.

It is not a Palestinian election.

ZU represents a position to the left of Netanyahu as recently Bibi has stated a two state solution is off the table entirely due to radically changed conditions in the region ... in other words ISIS.

Israel demonizers will never be satisfied until Israel doesn't exist ... they don't fool anyone.

To add, those positions could be seen as an opening negotiation. Settlement policy is likely negotiable. Demilitarizing Palestinian state not negotiable. Jerusalem as Israel capital -- no comment.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Jingthing

[Seastallion]

This is an Israeli election.

It is not a Palestinian election.

ZU represents a position to the left of Netanyahu as recently Bibi has stated a two state solution is off the table entirely due to radically changed conditions in the region ... in other words ISIS.

Israel demonizers will never be satisfied until Israel doesn't exist ... they don't fool anyone.

To add, those positions could be seen as an opening negotiation. Settlement policy is likely negotiable. Demilitarizing Palestinian state not negotiable. Jerusalem as Israel capital -- no comment.

I would have thought you would wait for the Israel demonisers to say something before you mentioned them. Thus far in this thread, there has been no Israel demonisation....so you're straying a bit off topic. Not that I mind that, personally.

I suspect that you're right about the settlements being negotiable. Of course ZU wouldn't say that explicitly before the election, but they'd be silly if they didn't know that the settlements are ONLY a negotiable item, not a non-negotiable item on the Palestinian agenda....and rightly so.

Jerusalem, at least East Jerusalem, is also something that will have to be negotiated. The way the ZU platform is currently worded, there can not be any peace deal, and they know that too.

[dexterm]

This is an Israeli election.

It is not a Palestinian election.

ZU represents a position to the left of Netanyahu as recently Bibi has stated a two state solution is off the table entirely due to radically changed conditions in the region ... in other words ISIS.

Israel demonizers will never be satisfied until Israel doesn't exist ... they don't fool anyone.

To add, those positions could be seen as an opening negotiation. Settlement policy is likely negotiable. Demilitarizing Palestinian state not negotiable. Jerusalem as Israel capital -- no comment.

not true...

Netanyahu denies backing away from two-state solution

"A statement from Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party on Sunday stated that the prime minister had said that "in the present situation in the Middle East, any vacated territory will be immediately overtaken by radical Islam and terrorist organisations sponsored by Iran.

"For this reason, there will be no withdrawals and no concessions, this is simply irrelevant.”

But responding to media reports based on the statement, Netanyahu's office later said the prime minister had "never said such a thing".

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/03/netanyahu-state-solution-150308213734653.html

I agree with you and ZU there would have to be some serious checks and balances to address Israel's security fears re demilitarization. After almost 100 years of conflict, it won't be all sweetness and light overnight.

Wouldn’t it be better to have a peaceful and prosperous Palestinian neighbor as a buffer rather than a hostile population occupied and denied a right to self determination in the West Bank and Gaza, if ISIS ever get as far as the Jordan River or the Golan Heights. With a just peace...and that’s why it has to be a just peace sellable to the Palestinians.. the occupation of Palestine will cease to be a casus belli for the likes of Al Qaeda and ISIS.

Yes, it’s an Israeli election, but resolving the Palestinian conflict is the key to everything. With a peace agreement Israel’s and the world’s economies would absolutely boom, and in a 2 state solution Israel with a Jewish character could be secured.

Edited March 9, 2015 by dexterm

[notmyself]

Remove the half million settlers from occupied land and there is a very small chance of peace. Refuse to do so and there is zero chance of peace.

[notmyself]

I agree with you and ZU there would have to be some serious checks and balances to address Israel's security fears re demilitarization. After almost 100 years of conflict, it won't be all sweetness and light overnight.

100 years of conflict! Do you know nothing of history?

The Hebrews committed genocide against the Canaanites in order to steal the land... because the god of Abraham supposedly told them to do it. That is the ONLY claim present day Israel have to offer. Without the backing of the US Christian right wing, Israel would not have begun to exist as a state.

[notmyself]

Israel has no interest in peace from any side.

Edited March 10, 2015 by notmyself

[konying]

What the Zionist Union is offering at the moment will be unacceptable to the Palestinians without land swaps for the settlement blocs equivalent to 100% of 67 borders, a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, compensation for land occupied by Israel in 48 and 67. They dont need a scattering of Bantustans that would not make a viable Palestinian state.

In that they have already come very close to this at Camp David under Ehud Barak, and in 2008 under lame duck PM Olmert in his final months, I dont think they will accept anything less in a two state solution. All the Palestinians have to do is sit tight, and await EU and UN recognition, and EU sanctions if Israel exacerbates the problem further.

As I said in previous posts, the day will come when Israel will be begging the Palestinians to accept such a deal. Otherwise a one state solution will see Palestinians eventually becoming equal citizens who outvote Israeli Jews. The alternative is full blown apartheid, as outlined in an anti Netanyahu rally on Saturday:

To those who say we dont have any alternative, as somebody who worked directly with three prime ministers: there is a better alternative, Dagan said. He and former Israeli general Amiram Levine, who also addressed the rally, both used the word apartheid to describe the direction Israel is headed, 972 Magazine reported.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/08/israeli-mass-rally-calls-for-replacement-of-binyamin-netanyahu

S African apartheid collapsed quickly, as did the Berlin Wall. I think Israels moment of truth is near. Does Israel want to have a viable economic future as a state with a Jewish character in a 2 state solution, or does it want to see millions of Palestinian refugees returning to reclaim their stolen farms and homes, or to marry full Israeli Arab citizens and millions of Israeli Jews using their second passports to leave Israel for USA and Europe?

Up2u.

Nothing will ever be acceptable or good enough for Palestinians.

With acceptable solution they will have no one to blame and no billions in aid.

There is a good reason why no arab states offers them citizenship.

[wabothai]

Changing the guard would not make any difference. Tearing down the wall and remove the settlers would.

Israel needs an attitude adjustment.

[Seastallion]

Israel has to wake up and smell the coffee.

While Netanyahu's agenda remains, the citizens will continue to cower in fear as he perpetuates the aggression. The Palestinians are not going to go away, and nor should they.

The US military industrial complex will rake in billions of dollars every year at the American tax payer's expense to support Israel's defence.

Come to your sense Israel....force your leaders to wage peace, and sleep better at night for lack of air raid sirens and for better conscience.