Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas to "just say six words - 'I will accept the Jewish state" - in his address to the Jewish Agency Board of Governors Tuesday,
"Palestinian society is split now between those who actively are prepared to use force, violence, terror and war to wipe us out and those who refuse stand up to that first half," he said. "That’s basically the division there. This remains the heart of the problem."
Nevertheless, he added, "I understand that we will have to have a historic compromise which is very painful, so I stood before my people, the people of Israel, and I said numerous times that I will accept a Palestinian state. Now President Abbas must stand before his people and he has to say these six words, 'I will accept the Jewish State.'"
"He has to say it. And I will repeat this over and over and over again because it is the attempt to fudge, it’s the attempt to fudge and evade and obscure this essential component of peace, the removal of this basic obstacle to peace, that is required, and this is what the international community must face up to."
Regarding the demilitarization of the future "Palestinian state," Netanyahu repeated the formulations he used in his speech to the joint session of Congress.
"We don’t want a repeat of what happened when we withdrew from Gaza or from South Lebanon. I believe that this will require for Israel to maintain a long-term military presence along the Jordan River. There will be arguments about sovereignty, about territory, but I think that... demilitarization and a long-term military presence along the Jordan River are essential to guaranteeing any peace. A peace you cannot defend will not hold. A peace you can defend will."
Netanyahu said Israel would incorporate within its final borders "what are called the settlement blocs, these large, urban communities that are fairly dense and concentrated alongside Greater Tel Aviv and Greater Jerusalem, and other areas of critical, strategic and national importance..."
"We believe also that Jerusalem must remain united, under Israeli sovereignty. It’s the only time in its millennial history that it has assured the free and unfettered access of all three monotheistic religions to their holy places."
