MK Amram Mitzna (Hatnua) thinks that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's demand that the the Palestinian Authority (PA) recognize Israel as a Jewish state is hindering negotiations with the PA – negotiations in which the Israeli team is headed by Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads Hatnua.
In an interview with Arutz Sheva's Shimon Cohen, Mitzna declared: "Our statement, that we will not agree to talk to the Palestinians if they do not recognize the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, is a statement the entire purpose of which is to bring the process to a standstill. It even shames me.”
When asked by Cohen if he is saying that the prime minister is throwing a spanner in the works of the negotiations, Mitzna laughed out loud.
"Why is this demand being presented? Does it not shame you that your enemy, the Muslims, have to recognize you as the state of the Jewish people? When we came here, when Zionism began to sprout, did we ask anyone and check with anyone, what state we are?”
Asked if the PA will not demand Tel Aviv and Ramla as well, after a diplomatic deal is struck, Mitzna – a former IDF general – replied: “What do you care if they demand it? In the end, there is an agreement, an agreement regarding interests, which includes very painful concessions but allows us to invest funds in the internal civilian problems that are the greatest threat to Israeli society – social gaps, the cost of living, good Israelis leaving Israel, the lack of faith in our Jewish roots.”
And we won't have to deal with the threat of missiles on Ben Gurion Airport?
"We will have to deal with it. I am from Haifa, after all, and Haifa had to deal with many missiles that we were hit by. It does not threaten the state of Israel. There are no fleets of tanks on the borders nowadays that storm into the state of Israel.”
Today there are no tanks, but after you sign an agreement, there will be tanks in Kalkilya [in Samaria]. Why shouldn't there be?
"I want to remind you that the agreements with Jordan, Egypt and the ceasefire agreement with Syria were respected by the Arab rulers even when they were murdered or disappeared. Security is not a black or white product. One must understand that basic security is achieved through agreements based on interests.”