Foreign Minister Netanyahu spoke with Arutz-7 earlier this week, and what he said - and did not say - clarified certain significant points about his position. Asked what he thinks about territorial contiguity between Hevron and Kiryat Arba, the Foreign Minister said,
"That is a possibility, but I want to emphasize that during my three years as Prime Minister, there was total quiet in Hevron - there was one attack, I believe - and there was no territorial contiguity. The reason there was quiet was because there was deterrence; Arafat knew that he would be expelled if there would be terrorism. Now too, we have to stop this war of attrition, and start to overpower the other side. We must take over the entire area, and not keep going in and out, and stay there until the terrorism ends. Afterwards, I certainly support a ground-separation, including a fence in certain places - not along the '67 lines, and of course not at the expense of our communities in Yesha, just as we don't dismantle the towns in Gaza even though there is a fence around Gaza."
Informed that Sharon refuses to take a public stand regarding the future of Yesha communities, Netanyahu was asked if he could be more forthcoming on this matter. He curtly answered,
"I have said that I would not dismantle communities, but I have also added that I would not establish a Palestinian state… If Sharon is elected, he does not plan to change the lines of the partition fence, and a Palestinian state with Arafat at its head will be established, more or less in the borders of 1967. If I'm elected, however, I will expel Arafat, I will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and I will change the contours of the partition. It's a straightforward choice."
More on Netanyahu's objections to a Palestinian state:
"This would be an existential threat for Israel - a terrorist stronghold in the middle of the country. For us to fight it, we would have to cross an international border each time, with all the ramifications that that involves in the UN and the like. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Sharon does not take the position of the Likud on this issue into account, and instead comes with Shimon Peres' position."
"That is a possibility, but I want to emphasize that during my three years as Prime Minister, there was total quiet in Hevron - there was one attack, I believe - and there was no territorial contiguity. The reason there was quiet was because there was deterrence; Arafat knew that he would be expelled if there would be terrorism. Now too, we have to stop this war of attrition, and start to overpower the other side. We must take over the entire area, and not keep going in and out, and stay there until the terrorism ends. Afterwards, I certainly support a ground-separation, including a fence in certain places - not along the '67 lines, and of course not at the expense of our communities in Yesha, just as we don't dismantle the towns in Gaza even though there is a fence around Gaza."
Informed that Sharon refuses to take a public stand regarding the future of Yesha communities, Netanyahu was asked if he could be more forthcoming on this matter. He curtly answered,
"I have said that I would not dismantle communities, but I have also added that I would not establish a Palestinian state… If Sharon is elected, he does not plan to change the lines of the partition fence, and a Palestinian state with Arafat at its head will be established, more or less in the borders of 1967. If I'm elected, however, I will expel Arafat, I will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and I will change the contours of the partition. It's a straightforward choice."
More on Netanyahu's objections to a Palestinian state:
"This would be an existential threat for Israel - a terrorist stronghold in the middle of the country. For us to fight it, we would have to cross an international border each time, with all the ramifications that that involves in the UN and the like. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Sharon does not take the position of the Likud on this issue into account, and instead comes with Shimon Peres' position."