In The Days

• Source: NY Times
• News Date: 6/14/09
• Author: Isabel Kershner

JERUSALEM — The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday endorsed the principle of a Palestinian state alongside Israel for the first time, but on condition that the Palestinian territory is demilitarized and that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people.—He also said that Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel. The Palestinians demand the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future state.

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling •Strongs 7478: rah´-al; from 7477; a reeling (from intoxication):—trembling.
•Strongs 7477: raw-al´; a primitive root; to reel, i.e. (figuratively) to brandish:—terribly shake. unto all the people•Strongs 5971: am; from 6004; a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock:—folk, men, nation, people.
•Strongs 6004: aw-mam´; a primitive root; to associate; by implication, to overshadow (by huddling together):—become dim, hide. round about, when they shall be in the seige•Strongs 4692: matsowr, maw-tsore´; or mDxw…rmatsuwr, maw-tsoor´; from 6696; something hemming in, i.e. (objectively) a mound (of besiegers), (abstractly) a siege, (figuratively) distress; or (subjectively) a fastness:—besieged, bulwark, defence, fenced, fortress, siege, strong (hold), tower.
•Strongs 6696: tsuwr, tsoor; a primitive root; to cramp, i.e. confine (in many applications, literally and figuratively, formative or hostile):—adversary, assault, beset, besiege, bind (up), cast, distress, fashion, fortify, inclose, lay siege, put up in bags. both against Judah and against Jerusalem.”
— Zec 12:2

Responding to American pressure and reversing his earlier staunch opposition to Palestinian statehood, Mr. Netanyahu, who leads the conservative Likud Party, outlined his vision for peace in a much-anticipated policy speech that was meant in part as an answer to President Barack Obama’s historic address in Cairo earlier this month.

The Israeli leader edged closer to the American and international consensus that calls for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at the risk of alienating the right-wing ideologues within his own party and his governing coalition.

As Ron Dermer, the prime minister’s director of communications and policy planning put it, in accepting the notion of a Palestinian state, the Israeli leader “crossed a personal Rubicon.”

But Mr. Netanyahu also set out clear red lines, insisting on “ironclad” guarantees that any future Palestinian state would not threaten Israel’s security, and refusing the Obama administration’s demand for a complete settlement freeze in the West Bank.

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement that Mr. Obama “welcomes the important step forward” in Mr. Netanyahu’s speech.

The statement reiterated the president’s commitment to a two-state solution, which “can and must ensure both Israel’s security and the fulfillment of the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations for a viable state,” and said that Mr. Obama “welcomes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s endorsement of that goal.”

However Palestinian officials immediately rejected the conditions laid out in Mr. Netanyahu’s speech as a non-starter.

Citing the Biblical peace prophecy of Isaiah, a vision of swords beaten into plowshares, Mr. Netanyahu said that “in the heart of this Jewish homeland lives a large Palestinian community. We do not want to rule over them, to govern their lives, or to impose our flag or our culture on them.”

He added: “In my vision of peace, in this small land of ours, two peoples live freely, side-by-side, in amity and mutual respect. Each will have its own flag, its own national anthem, its own government. Neither will threaten the security or survival of the other.”

If Israel were to receive guarantees from the United States and the international community that the Palestinian territory will be demilitarized, and if the Palestinians publicly recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Mr. Netanyahu said, “We will be ready in a future peace agreement to reach a solution where a demilitarized Palestinian state exists alongside the Jewish state.”

Mr. Netanyahu called on the Palestinians to start immediate talks without preconditions.

But he rejected a total settlement freeze. He said that no new settlements will be created and no more land will be expropriated for expansion, but that “normal life” must be allowed to continue in the settlements, meaning that limited building should carry on. He also said that Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel. The Palestinians demand the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future state.

Mr. Netanyahu made no mention of existing frameworks for negotiations, like the American-backed 2003 peace plan known as the road map. He referred repeatedly to the West Bank by its Biblical name of Judea and Samaria, declaring it “the land of our forefathers.” He made no mention of the geographical shape a Palestinian state might take, but said that the Palestinian refugee problem must be resolved outside Israel’s borders, negating the Palestinian demand for a right of return for refugees of the 1948 war.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said in a statement that “Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about negotiations, but left us with nothing to negotiate as he systematically took nearly every permanent status issue off the table. Nor did he accept a Palestinian state.”

“Instead,” Mr. Erekat said, “he announced a series of conditions and qualifications that render a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state impossible.”

Palestinian negotiators have long refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, contending that it would prejudge the refugees’ demand for a right of return and would be detrimental to the status of Israel’s Arab minority.

Mr. Dermer said that Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state was “not a precondition for negotiations. But there will not be an agreement without that recognition,” he said.

Mr. Netanyahu delivered his half-hour speech in Hebrew to an invited audience at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv. The university, a leading Israeli institution established in 1955, is an academic bastion of Israel’s national-religious camp.

Timed to coincide with the evening television news and broadcast live, the speech was rich in Zionist rhetoric and seemed aimed as much at the Israeli public as at the American administration.

Experts said it was unlikely to cause a political earthquake here, since it largely expressed the prevailing consensus in Israel today.

“It was a balanced speech that the coalition can live with,” said Prof. Efraim Inbar, the director of the Begin-Sadat Center.

Contrary to the expectations of many here, Mr. Netanyahu did not make the Iranian threat a focal point of his address, though he described it as one of the greatest challenges facing Israel along with the global economic crisis and the advancement of peace.

He called on all Arab leaders to meet with him and talk peace, and for Arab countries and entrepreneurs to cooperate in advancing the Palestinian economy and to engage in regional projects with Israel.

Regarding Gaza, where Hamas holds sway, Mr. Netanyahu said it is up to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority to establish the rule of law there and “overcome” the Islamic militant group.

The prime minister announced a week ago that he would be delivering the speech and telephoned Mr. Obama to make sure he would be tuned in. The long build-up led to feverish speculation up to the last minute of what it would contain. The Israeli leader spent much of the last week in consultation with political partners and potential rivals and met twice for têtes-à-têtes with the country’s experienced and internationally popular president, Shimon Peres.

Mr. Peres said in a statement that the speech was “true and courageous,” and that it constituted an opening toward “direct negotiations for both a regional peace and a bilateral peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”