Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in an address at the Saban Forum on Saturday night, warned that a withdrawal to the 1967 borders would only exacerbate Israel's troubles with its Arab population.
Lieberman said the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state in Judea and Samaria would not solve the Arab-Israeli conflict; instead, it will draw it closer, to within the pre-1967 borders.
Arab communities in the Galilee and the Negev -- which include Bedouin and Druze, both relatively loyal to Israel at present -- are likely to demand autonomy once they see Arabs in Judea and Samaria living in an independent state, he said.
Although the remarks at the forum, sponsored by Israeli media mogul Chaim Saban, are intended to be kept under wraps, the content of Lieberman's address was leaked almost immediately by the state-run Voice of Israel government radio and other Hebrew-language news media. All reported Lieberman's warning that Negev and Galilee Arabs would build stronger ties with the PA once a new Arab country is established in Judea and Samaria.
On Sunday, the PA marks the 21st anniversary of a unilateral declaration by the Palestinian National Council in 1988 that announced the so-called establishment of an independent state of "Palestine."
Threats to Establish a State
In connection with the anniversary, PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said in an interview published Saturday in the PA-controlled Al-Ayyam newspaper that the Abbas government intends to ask the United Nations Security Council to formally recognize the PA as a new country to be named "Palestine." The new PA state, he said, would be formed along the pre-1967 border, with its capital in eastern Jerusalem.
The area that was referred to as "Palestine" during the British mandate after World War 1 included an area four times larger than modern Israel called "Transjordan," most of which became the modern Arab nation of Jordan when the area was partitioned by the United Nations. The remaining portion became the reborn State of Israel; however a large section of this was occupied by Jordan as a result of the 1948 War of Independence. During the 1967 Six Day War, which Israel won, these areas were restored to the Jewish State.