[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

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.

Please be advised that all correspondence originating from the State of Israel is transmitted using state-sanctioned encryption protocols. While every effort has been made to ensure this message and its attachments are free from harmful content, the sender cannot accept liability for any potential damage or data loss resulting from their use.

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

 

[Zak]

STATE OF ISRAEL​

Dear Marwan Barghouti,

I have read your email carefully. You ask what Israel would accept, what could restore negotiations, and whether there remains a path toward peace. Those are legitimate questions, and Israel must answer them honestly.

You are right to say that Palestinian suffering does not occur in a vacuum. Israeli policy and actions have contributed to that suffering, and we cannot demand that Palestinians acknowledge Israeli security concerns while pretending that their own fears and grievances are without foundation.

You speak specifically of settler violence. Israel must acknowledge it plainly, Palestinian civilians have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, property destruction, attacks, and the destruction of agricultural land by Israeli settlers but so have Israeli's from Palestinians. These acts are unacceptable. They cannot be excused as an inevitable consequence of the conflict, and those responsible must be held accountable regardless of their political affiliation or ideology.

Israel has therefore increased its security presence across Jerusalem where tensions and settler attacks have been previously been reported. The purpose of that presence is to deter attacks, protect civilians, and ensure that Israeli law applies equally to everyone. Security measures must be carried out with restraint and respect for the dignity of those living in the city.

But we must also be clear about a fundamental point, Israel does not support the establishment of a Palestinian state under present circumstances. Our position is rooted in security concerns and in the belief that creating a sovereign Palestinian state without sufficient guarantees for Israel's security could create new and potentially greater dangers for both peoples.

This does not mean Israel supports permanent conflict or believes Palestinians should live without political rights or dignity. It means that any future political arrangement must be negotiated rather than imposed, and must provide credible guarantees that Palestinian territory will not become a platform for attacks against Israeli civilians.

You speak of Palestinian unity. If unity produces a leadership capable of enforcing commitments, preventing attacks on civilians, and resolving political disputes through peaceful means, Israel should regard that as an opportunity for dialogue. But unity alone cannot compel Israel to accept a political outcome it believes would endanger its citizens.

Jerusalem requires the same honesty. Its religious and political significance cannot justify humiliation, discrimination, or unnecessary restrictions against either population. Jews, Muslims, and Christians must be able to live, worship, and move through the city with dignity and security.

You describe walls and checkpoints as a delay rather than a foundation for peace. Israel recognizes that such measures have imposed enormous costs on Palestinian life. Many were established in response to violence, but measures created as security responses cannot become a permanent substitute for a political settlement.

The present reality cannot continue indefinitely.

Palestinians deserve freedom, dignity, security, meaningful self-government, and a genuine political horizon. Israelis deserve security, recognition, and the ability to live without fear of attack. Neither people should have to surrender its humanity in order for the other to possess it.

You ask Israel to choose between threats and negotiations.

Israel chooses negotiations, but not negotiations whose predetermined conclusion is Palestinian statehood.

We are prepared to discuss practical arrangements that improve Palestinian lives, expand economic and political cooperation, strengthen security, reduce unnecessary restrictions, and address the causes of instability. We are also prepared to confront uncomfortable truths about Israeli conduct, including settler violence, and to hold those responsible accountable.

But Israel will not accept the creation of a Palestinian state simply because Palestinian leadership demands it. Any lasting political arrangement must emerge from direct negotiations and must address Israel's fundamental security concerns.

If Palestinian leadership is prepared to pursue its objectives through diplomacy rather than violence, Israel is prepared to engage.

The conflict cannot be managed forever. But neither can peace be achieved by imposing upon one people a political settlement it believes threatens its survival.

Kind Regards,
Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister
State of Israel

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.

Please be advised that all correspondence originating from the State of Israel is transmitted using state-sanctioned encryption protocols. While every effort has been made to ensure this message and its attachments are free from harmful content, the sender cannot accept liability for any potential damage or data loss resulting from their use.

Jay