Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely
Likud MK Tzipi HotovelyIsrael news photo

The nationalist camp must start to change its thinking and look at Palestinian Authority Arabs as human beings in order to solve the political stalemate, Knesset Member Tzipi Hotovely told Israel National News.

“It is clear today that the version of ‘two states for two peoples’ does not stand a chance,” she said. “The decision of the nationalist camp 'not to decide' brings us to the current standoff. We have to exercise sovereignty over all of the areas of Judea and Samaria, but we have never said that we are talking about our own land. This is our weakness.”

The rookie MK suggests a “more progressive look at our [Arab] neighbors” instead of copying the "leftist solution of building a wall so we don't have to see them.” She said that the PA includes Arabs who have "rights as human beings, and the problem of political rights has to be solved gradually.”

She proposes granting many of them the Biblical status of "non-Jewish resident” (“ger toshav”) while dismantling “refugee camps” and the “hostile programs of the PA educational system.”

While working on a long and gradual process that could conclude with granting many PA Arabs citizenship, a parallel effort is needed to bring one million more Jews to Israel to maintain a Jewish majority, she added.

“Younger politicians have to think differently,” MK Hotovely says. She thinks that Likud party chairman and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continues “to play out the diplomatic process even though it is clear” that it has no chance.”