Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, visiting Arutz-7\'s Beit El studios today, joined the chorus of criticism against the Peres plan. He said that the Palestinians must not be given a prize for their 14-month campaign of violence against us. Netanyahu called upon the right-wing to protest \"Peres\' attempt to drag Israel into another catastrophic diplomatic escapade.\" Excerpts from his comments:
\"The Likud, officially, is against a Palestinian state, and has never changed this stand... Peres is one of the few remaining Israelis who has any trust in Arafat. To come now, after 14 months of terrorism, and give him a prize of a state?! [British Prime Minister] Blair and others said to the Taliban, \"Stop supporting terrorism or be thrown out of power\" - and they were in fact thrown out. But here, we\'re doing the opposite: Arafat perpetrates terrorism, and then receives a prize of staying in power!
\"This would be a major mistake, because Arafat will be able to control his borders, make treaties with Iran and Iraq, control his airspace - for once he has the status of a state, he will demand these things, and the international community will give them to him… Aside from that, what kind of agreement can be made with him? He violates every agreement. Peres talks about a demilitarized state - Arafat will keep his state demilitarized!? …
\"When I was Prime Minister, Arafat also threatened to declare a state, and I said then that if he does so, we would be able to react by deciding what to do with the other territory - and as you know, most of the territory is in our hands.\"
[Ed. note: Netanyahu stopped short of saying that he would have actually annexed the rest of Yesha. On Nov. 6, Minister Danny Naveh said something similar. \"My recommendation,\" Naveh told Arutz-7, \"would be that if Arafat declares [a state] unilaterally, we should also take unilateral steps of our own, as the Netanyahu government decided, including the possibility of annexing certain areas in Judea and Samaria...\"]
Speaking later on Israel Television, Netanyahu discounted the factor of American pressure on Sharon: \"In a recent poll,\" he said, \"a margin of something like seven to one was against American pressure on Israel to make concessions to Arafat...\"
\"The Likud, officially, is against a Palestinian state, and has never changed this stand... Peres is one of the few remaining Israelis who has any trust in Arafat. To come now, after 14 months of terrorism, and give him a prize of a state?! [British Prime Minister] Blair and others said to the Taliban, \"Stop supporting terrorism or be thrown out of power\" - and they were in fact thrown out. But here, we\'re doing the opposite: Arafat perpetrates terrorism, and then receives a prize of staying in power!
\"This would be a major mistake, because Arafat will be able to control his borders, make treaties with Iran and Iraq, control his airspace - for once he has the status of a state, he will demand these things, and the international community will give them to him… Aside from that, what kind of agreement can be made with him? He violates every agreement. Peres talks about a demilitarized state - Arafat will keep his state demilitarized!? …
\"When I was Prime Minister, Arafat also threatened to declare a state, and I said then that if he does so, we would be able to react by deciding what to do with the other territory - and as you know, most of the territory is in our hands.\"
[Ed. note: Netanyahu stopped short of saying that he would have actually annexed the rest of Yesha. On Nov. 6, Minister Danny Naveh said something similar. \"My recommendation,\" Naveh told Arutz-7, \"would be that if Arafat declares [a state] unilaterally, we should also take unilateral steps of our own, as the Netanyahu government decided, including the possibility of annexing certain areas in Judea and Samaria...\"]
Speaking later on Israel Television, Netanyahu discounted the factor of American pressure on Sharon: \"In a recent poll,\" he said, \"a margin of something like seven to one was against American pressure on Israel to make concessions to Arafat...\"