The words of Bibi Netanyahu in 2002 about a Palestinian state: 'Not today, not tomorrow, not ever' were spoken only a year after this recorded interview divulged Netanyahu's disdain for Bill Clinton and the Oslo Peace Accords, which had as their alleged purpose the creation of a Palestinian state.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding provided another version of the highly publicized 2001 Netanyahu interview, an English translation of his controversial comments recently made public by Israel's Channel 10. Apparently, unaware he was being recorded, Netanyahu's candid remarks about America and the peace process leave many questioning how seriously his professed desire for peace with the Palestinians can be taken today.
Dismissing America as "a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction", Netanyahu bragged about how he "stopped" the Oslo peace process and Palestinian statehood. Comments made before and after this 2001 interview betray a similar lack of interest in serious peacemaking:
In a 2002 speech before the Likud Central Committee, he said of a Palestinian state, "Not today, not tomorrow, not ever."
In a September 2008 interview, he said that, if elected Prime Minister, he "will not volunteer concessions and the removal of Jewish communities."
Yet, none of this right wing Likud rhetoric is new.
The Bible of Israel's Likud party which is now in power, its political platform vis a vis the Palestinians, is precisely what has been happening for the past 43 years: the nullification of Palestinian statehood through military occupation and colonialism.
Here's the The Likud Party Platform
PEACE AND SECURITY
1. Declaration of a Palestinian State: A unilateral Palestinian declaration of the establishment of a Palestinian state will constitute a fundamental and substantive violation of the agreements with the State of Israel and the scuttling of the Oslo and Wye accords. The government will adopt immediate stringent measures in the event of such a declaration.
2. Settlements: The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria [West Bank] and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting.
3. The Permanent Status: The overall objectives for the final status with the Palestinians are: to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of a stable, sustainable agreement and replace confrontation with cooperation and good neighborliness, while safeguarding Israel's vital interests as a secure and prosperous Zionist and Jewish state.
4. Self-Rule: The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan River. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, for example, in matters of foreign affairs, security, immigration and ecology, their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel's existence, security and national needs.
4. Jerusalem: Jerusalem is the eternal, united capital of the State of Israel and only of Israel. The government will flatly reject Palestinian proposals to divide Jerusalem, including the plan to divide the city.
5. The Jordan River as a Permanent Border: The Jordan Valley and the territories that dominate it shall be under Israeli sovereignty. The Jordan River will be the permanent eastern border of the State of Israel. The Kingdom of Jordan is a desirable partner in the permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians in matters that will be agreed upon.
6. Security Areas: The government succeeded in significantly reducing the extent of territory that the Palestinians expected to receive in the interim arrangement.
The Likud platform essentially leaves the Palestinian people in a kind of limbo, which some (like Jimmy Carter) propose is nothing less than an Apartheid existence, a collection of bantustans within an Israel that extends from the Jordan River to the sea. It is not unlike what existed for Black South Africans under the Afrikaaner government before the 1990s.
Likud's intent to nullify Palestinian freedom and independence is also found in the document, A Clean Break, a plan developed by American Neocons for the first Netanyahu government in 1996, when Netanyahu claimed 'no land for peace, peace for peace'. That perspective is what drives Netanyahu and Likud policy today.
There is nothing that Netanyahu has proposed today to suggest that his view of peace with the Palestinians has changed. It is better to give 2% than to give 100%, and that is precisely what Netanyahu has in mind even before direct negotiations with the Palestinians are underway. Since his election, Netanyahu has publicly declared that East Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, the border area with Jordan, and the settlement lands are not negotiable.
Thanks to IMEU for distributing the translated video.
