Prime Ministerial candidate Tzipi Livni, head of Kadima, says that a Palestinian state could serve as a home for Israeli-Arabs as well.
Livni was speaking before a high school audience in Tel Aviv on Thursday morning when she said, “My solution is to have two national states, involving a certain concession [on Israel’s part – ed.] and with clear red lines. I can then go to the Palestinian citizens of Israel, those who we call ‘Israeli-Arabs,’ and say to them: ‘Your national solution lies elsewhere.’”
The Likud responded acerbically: “It’s not yet Purim, but Livni is masquerading as if she’s pro-transfer, when in actuality it’s clear that she, like Yossi Beilin, is an out-and-out leftist.”
“This will help preserve the State of Israel as a Jewish state,” Livni said.
The issue of “transfer,” referring to the transfer of Arabs out of all or parts of Israel, has always been a controversial one. Rabbi Meir Kahane and Gen. Rechavam (Gandhi) Ze’evi, both of whom were murdered by Arabs, were in favor of such a solution to one extent or another, and were roundly condemned by the Israeli establishment for it.
Livni’s statement also appears to put her on an even footing with Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party. His party’s platform states, “The only possible solution is the exchange of territory and populations, with the goal of the separation of the Jewish and Arab nations, respectively. Only this solution can guarantee the Jewish character of the State, assure a clear Jewish majority in the short and long term, safeguard the security of our citizens, and encourage economic growth.”
MK Benny Elon, author of the Right Road to Peace peace plan, says Livni’s idea is basically a good one, “but the Arabs’ place is on the east of the Jordan River, not the west.”
“A Palestinian state west of the Jordan means the end of the State of Israel,” Elon told IsraelNationalNews.