Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appeared on BBC this week, explaining Israel\'s position in the war against the Palestinian Authority\'s terrorism. \"[They practically] invented the art of suicide bombing,\" Netanyahu said. \"They have suicide kindergartens where children 3 and 5 years old are taught [it], and suicide universities that glorify these acts and re-enact the Sbarro restaurant slaughter... On the day of the World Trade Center, Arafat said that they are honorable people, the salt of the earth... If someone thinks that pressure on Israel to make concessions to terrorists would not further embolden them, this is a big mistake.\" When told that the PA had condemned the terrorism and was doing everything they could to stop it, Netanyahu said, \"First of all, they\'re lying... Hamas says openly, in Arabic and English, that their goal is to destroy Israel; Arafat says this only in Arabic...\"
Netanyahu was pressured by the interviewers if he had nothing to offer: \"Is there then nothing on which you can compromise, Mr. Netanyahu?\" His response:
\"Israel has gone a long way towards Arafat, including several concessions which I felt were too much. But Arafat rejected this, because what we were offering - a state side-by-side with Israel - is not what he wants; he wants a state *instead* of Israel... He says over and over, in Arabic, that he intends to demolish the State of Israel. [I myself came to agreements with him, but I insisted that he carry out his end of the agreements. But now,] there can be no compromise [or negotiations] with one who wants to use those very talks to destroy you.\"
Netanyahu was pressured by the interviewers if he had nothing to offer: \"Is there then nothing on which you can compromise, Mr. Netanyahu?\" His response:
\"Israel has gone a long way towards Arafat, including several concessions which I felt were too much. But Arafat rejected this, because what we were offering - a state side-by-side with Israel - is not what he wants; he wants a state *instead* of Israel... He says over and over, in Arabic, that he intends to demolish the State of Israel. [I myself came to agreements with him, but I insisted that he carry out his end of the agreements. But now,] there can be no compromise [or negotiations] with one who wants to use those very talks to destroy you.\"