Israel’s
Ambassador to the United Nations Yehuda Lancry said that Israel accepts
Palestinian statehood as a solution to the Mideast conflict. Lancry
told the General Assembly on Friday that Israel had accepted U.S.
President Bush’s vision of peace in which two states – Jewish and Arab
- exist “side by side in peace and security.” The basis for Lancry’s
statement is unclear, as no Israeli government has ever had a
discussion or made a decision to accept the creation of a Palestinian
state under any conditions. Ministers Yitzchak Levy and Uzi Landau
noted this discrepancy at today’s Cabinet meeting, and Foreign Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu said he would investigate the matter.

Although Prime Minister Sharon has expressed support for some form
of future Palestinian statehood, he insists that it be preceded by an
absolute halt to all terrorism and incitement. Both Sharon and
Netanyahu said today that Lancry’s statement was not made with their
knowledge or consent. Unnamed government officials said that Lancry’s
remarks reflect statements made in the United Nations by Netanyahu’s
predecessor in the Foreign Ministry, Shimon Peres.

The gist of Lancry’s remarks was that the Palestinians have not
shown any indication of an intention to stop murdering Israelis,
despite Israel’s willingness to reach an agreement with them. A UN
press release quoted Lancry as follows:
“Israel’s insistence on security is not some blind obsession… not
some commodity to be bartered and traded, to be bestowed and withdrawn,
subject to the whims of the Palestinians. It must be the central
pillar, the unalterable foundation, and the most integral stratum of
any concept of peace. But in the more than two years since Palestinian
terrorism became a daily reality for the people of Israel, and despite
the sporadic condemnations by Chairman Arafat of certain acts of
Palestinian terror, never has the Palestinian leadership taken any
significant action to give substance to its rhetoric.
“The basic concept of peace remains the one articulated by the Assembly
more than half a century ago, and refined by the Security Council in
resolutions 242 and 338. More recently, that vision was reaffirmed by
President Bush’s speech on 24 June, by Council resolution 1397, and by
the “road map” now being formulated by the Quartet. Israel has accepted
the vision of peace articulated by President Bush, which included two
states living side by side in peace and security.
“But all those formulae are destined to failure if they are not rooted
in the absolute rejection of the strategy of terrorism and the adoption
of a clear policy of reconciliation and coexistence. Efforts to bring
peace to the Middle East must consider the end of terrorism as the
price of political progress, not as its reward…”

This entry was posted on Monday, December 2nd, 2002 and is filed under hotnews.