[Israel]: Message to the Palestine Liberation Organisation

[Zak]

STATE OF ISRAEL​

Dear Palestinian Leaders,

Israel has made its position clear: the political framework that previously governed negotiations has failed, and Israel has stepped outside it. We will not return to a process that, in our view, repeatedly failed to provide security or produce an agreement acceptable to the Israeli people.

More importantly, Israel will not recognize a Palestinian state under the present circumstances. The emergence of a unified Palestinian leadership does not alter that position. Political unity among Palestinian factions cannot, by itself, create an outcome that Israel is unwilling to accept.

Israel will judge the new Palestinian leadership by its actions. Any attempt to use political unity to legitimize violence, threaten Israeli civilians, or impose a unilateral political settlement will be regarded as a serious challenge to Israel's security and interests.

Jerusalem remains a matter of particular sensitivity. Israel will continue to protect its citizens and maintain security in the city, and it will not accept attempts to use religious or political tensions as a means of coercion.

The message from Israel is therefore straightforward. We have left the existing political framework, and we will not be pressured back into it through demonstrations, diplomatic declarations, or threats. Nor will Israel recognize a Palestinian state simply because Palestinian factions have reached an internal agreement.

If the Palestinian leadership chooses confrontation, Israel will respond as necessary to protect its people. If it chooses stability and practical cooperation, channels for limited engagement may remain possible without requiring Israel to accept Palestinian statehood.

The political assumptions that governed the previous process have changed. Israel's security and sovereignty will remain the foundation of its policy, and recognition of a Palestinian state is not presently part of that policy.

Kind Regards,
Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister
State of Israel

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Jay

 

[Jay]

STATE OF PALESTINE

To the Israeli Leadership,

You write that Israel has stepped outside the political framework that once governed our negotiations, and that you will not return to a process you believe failed to provide security or produce an agreement acceptable to the Israeli people. I will not pretend that process was without failure. Neither of our peoples can claim clean hands in what Oslo became. But a framework does not fail on its own. It is failed by the men entrusted to honor it.

You write that Israel will not recognize a Palestinian state under present circumstances, and that Palestinian unity cannot by itself create an outcome Israel is unwilling to accept. You have spent years telling us we had no single leadership capable of delivering peace. We have built one. And your answer is that it changes nothing. I ask you plainly: what, in your view, ever would?

You warn that any attempt to use unity to legitimize violence, threaten Israeli civilians, or impose a unilateral settlement will be regarded as a serious challenge to Israeli security. Mr. Netanyahu, until Israel is ready to treat Palestine and the Palestinian people with dignity and respect, no peace is possible, and no warning of this kind will produce it either.

You speak of threats to Israeli civilians as though they occur in a vacuum. They do not. The reality on the ground goes far beyond the crafted language of your letter. Settlers harass our citizens. They burn our homes. They tear up groves that have belonged to our families longer than either of our states has existed. In Jerusalem, our people are stopped, questioned, and singled out for the simple act of walking through their own city. I do not excuse violence committed in our name. I have never excused it, and I will not begin now. But I will not sit and hear only of the dangers Israel guards against, as though the dangers we live with every day carry no weight of their own.

You raise Jerusalem, and call it a matter of particular sensitivity, and say Israel will not accept religious or political tensions being used as a means of coercion. On this, at least, we may agree that the city deserves particular care. It has had precious little of it. A visit staged for cameras, checkpoints erected without explanation or end, is not the conduct of a government protecting sensitivity. It is the conduct of a government testing how much can be imposed before we say enough is enough.

The past nine years have seen an uneasy peace, Mr. Netanyahu, and I will not dress that up as more than it is. An uneasy peace is still a peace, and I do not take it lightly that it has held this long, imperfect as it has been. But an uneasy peace cannot continue when it is maintained by walls and checkpoints. That is no foundation. It is a delay. And delays, sooner or later, come due. All debts will be paid.

You close by saying the choice before Palestinian leadership is confrontation or stability, and that stability might permit limited engagement without requiring you to accept statehood. I will offer you the same choice back, stated plainly. The choice before you is not threats and grandstanding, which will achieve nothing beyond what nine uneasy years have already achieved. If you truly wish to end this conflict, and to be a leader for all Israelis and not merely their fears, you will offer negotiations, and a genuine opportunity for us to make peace together. Anything less is cowardice befitting a man with no honor.

Marwan Barghouti
President of the State of Palestine
Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization
Ramallah, Palestine

This email and any accompanying documents are intended exclusively for the designated recipient(s) and may contain information that is confidential, proprietary, or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please inform the sender immediately and permanently delete this message from your system. Any unauthorized access, reproduction, distribution, or use of this communication is strictly prohibited.

Zak