Netanyahu - policy statements
:Updated concept: Maintaining demilitarization of J & S must be in Israel's hands. Replaces Oslo concept according to which Palestinian sub-contractors provide security to Israel. Last month: Sovereignty initiative is an option
In this area of the West Bank no force can guarantee Israel's security other than the IDF and our security services. Time after time we have seen how the local forces trained by the West to stop the Islamists cannot be relied upon following the departure of those Western forces... My friends, this is a fact. It cannot be ignored because of outdated political concepts.
We must understand that in any future settlement with the Palestinians, Israel will have to maintain long-term security control of the territory along the Jordan River. This is the practical basis for the idea of two nation-states which I presented in my Bar Ilan speech and which I continue to stand by. I defined it then as "a demilitarized Palestinian state that will recognize the Jewish state".
What does "demilitarized Palestinian state" mean? Given what is happening around us, who will prevent infiltration into the Palestinian state and from the Palestinian state into Israel? Who will prevent the manufacturing of rockets and missiles inside Palestinian territory and their firing into Israel? ... Who will prevent the dispatching of suicide terrorists from Palestinian cities to Israeli cities? Who will prevent the digging of tunnels into our territory? ...Maintaining the demilitarization of the Palestinian state must be in Israel's hands. Otherwise, it will simply be unsustainable. I believe that we must apply this updated concept to our arrangement with the Palestinians .....The evacuation of Israel's forces would ...severely endanger the State of Israel.
...Those who fail to understand that ignore reality. There are of course elements within the international community which consistently refuse to acknowledge this reality.... Of course the last ones to be convinced are several Western European countries that continue to call for various boycotts and divestments of Israel because of our presence and activities in the West Bank and on the Golan. ...
When we return to the negotiating table, as I hope we will, we will have to address not only the question of mutual recognition of two nation-states and the cessation of the constant incitement against us, but also arrangements that will guarantee Israel's continued security control along the Jordan River. There is simply no one else who can do it for us in the foreseeable future, neither Palestinian nor international forces. As we have seen time and again, the former are simply incapable of it, and the latter eventually evacuate.
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