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17-12-03, 16:54
Last Update: 17/12/2003 17:11
Shalom: Israel should explore Assad's offer of talks
By Aluf Benn, Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents and Reuters
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Wednesday slammed talk of a unilateral withdrawal by Israel from the territories in his speech to the Herzliya Conference on security issues.
Shalom said that he was opposed to any unilateral steps that had political implications, as they would be a "prize to terrorism" and would serve only to weaken Israel's ability to negotiate in the future. He said that unilateral measures "will not help us progress and will not raise a sense of commitment in the Palestinians."
Shalom's comments echoed those made by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day to the conference. Netanyahu insisted that "one must get something in return for any measures taken. Concessions must come in response to something." In an apparent jibe at the Geneva Accord and talk by Minister Ehud Olmert that he has a plan for a unilateral withdrawal, Netanyahu said, "the multiplicity of diplomatic plans interferes with the prime minister's direction of policy."
The finance minister also insisted that Israel currently does not have a Palestinian partner for negotiations on a permanent status agreement. He argued that a new Palestinian leadership could not prosper in a "poisonous Palestinian society which creates battalions of suicide bombers."
Netanyahu also called for construction on the West Bank security fence to be speeded up to separate between population centers on both side as well as preventing a "demographic exodus" of Palestinians from the territories to Israel and creating security and economic stability.
He said the government will allocate an additional NIS 700 million next year for the controversial barrier. "We will build this fence, the sooner the better," Netanyahu told the conference. Netanyahu said the extra funds for the fence will come from raising taxes on diesel fuel, a measure that went into effect late Tuesday. Netanyahu added he has instructed ministry officials to continue to allocate all the amounts needed to set up the barrier, to ensure budgetary considerations are not a delaying factor.
Shalom told the conference that the U.S.-backed road map was currently the best operative plan and called for the further easing of restrictions on the Palestinian civilian population. He too called for construction work on the security fence to be completed as soon as possible.
Should talks with the Palestinians fail, he said that the Syrian track should be explored. In response to recent comments by Syrian President Bashar Assad that he would like to restart negotiations with Israel, the foreign minister said that "we must not refuse a hand outstretched in peace, even if it is not for the right reasons," hinting that Syria was seeking to deflect criticism from the U.S. for harboring terrorist organizations.
Netanyahu also told the conference that Israel does not face a demographic threat from the Palestinians who will be under Palestinian control and will enjoy "self determination" in the future, but rather faces a threat from the Israeli Arab population. He believes that it is of the utmost importance to maintain the Jewish majority in the country a d for this the economy must be improved to encourage more Jews to immigrate from the Diaspora and improve the education of "Jew and Arab, boy and girl, man and woman." Netanyahu warned that should the Israeli Arab sector grow to 35-40 percent of the population, Israel will become a bi-national country.
MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash) said in response to Netanyahu's comments that "the day is not far off when Netanyahu and his cohorts will put up roadblocks at the entrances to Arab villages to tie Arab women's tubes and spray us with spermicide."
Hadash MK Mohammed Barakeh said in response that Netanyahu's comments are nothing more than "lowly, ugly racism." He called on the finance minister to end the incitement against the Arab population and to stop viewing its natural growth as a problem.
MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) said in response that Netanyahu was stoking the demographic phobia and hostility towards the Israeli Arab sector. "He who speaks of the Arab citizens as a threat is legitimizing racism," he said.
German FM slams fence
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer criticized Israel on Wednesday for the building of the West Bank separation fence, saying it made no sense from a security standpoint for it to cut into Palestinian territory.
"No one questions Israel's right to defend itself against the terrorist threat," Fischer said, commenting on the barrier of fence, razor wire, trenches and cement that slices deep into the West Bank in some places.
Israel says it is a security fence to keep suicide bombers out of its cities. Palestinians have denounced it as a land grab that hurts efforts to revive a U.S.-backed peace plan and prejudges future borders that should be decided in negotiations.
"If Israel believes that it needs a security fence, that cannot be criticized, as long as this fence follows the course of the Green Line," he said, referring to Israel's frontier with the West Bank before the 1967 war.
"The present course of the fence is, however, barely understandable from a security point of view," Fischer said. "It is precisely this fact that attracts very serious criticism, not just in Israel but also in Europe and the United States."
Despite world criticism of the barrier, Israeli leaders reiterated vows on Wednesday to speed up its construction.
"We will build this fence, the sooner the better," Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the conference.
Earlier Wednesday, Fischer met separately with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, to discuss ways of reviving the flagging peace process.
Fischer said after his meeting with Qureia that he had discussed ways to halt three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, improve living conditions for Palestinians and how to restart the internationally-backed "road map" peace plan.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/373114.html
Shalom: Israel should explore Assad's offer of talks
By Aluf Benn, Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents and Reuters
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Wednesday slammed talk of a unilateral withdrawal by Israel from the territories in his speech to the Herzliya Conference on security issues.
Shalom said that he was opposed to any unilateral steps that had political implications, as they would be a "prize to terrorism" and would serve only to weaken Israel's ability to negotiate in the future. He said that unilateral measures "will not help us progress and will not raise a sense of commitment in the Palestinians."
Shalom's comments echoed those made by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day to the conference. Netanyahu insisted that "one must get something in return for any measures taken. Concessions must come in response to something." In an apparent jibe at the Geneva Accord and talk by Minister Ehud Olmert that he has a plan for a unilateral withdrawal, Netanyahu said, "the multiplicity of diplomatic plans interferes with the prime minister's direction of policy."
The finance minister also insisted that Israel currently does not have a Palestinian partner for negotiations on a permanent status agreement. He argued that a new Palestinian leadership could not prosper in a "poisonous Palestinian society which creates battalions of suicide bombers."
Netanyahu also called for construction on the West Bank security fence to be speeded up to separate between population centers on both side as well as preventing a "demographic exodus" of Palestinians from the territories to Israel and creating security and economic stability.
He said the government will allocate an additional NIS 700 million next year for the controversial barrier. "We will build this fence, the sooner the better," Netanyahu told the conference. Netanyahu said the extra funds for the fence will come from raising taxes on diesel fuel, a measure that went into effect late Tuesday. Netanyahu added he has instructed ministry officials to continue to allocate all the amounts needed to set up the barrier, to ensure budgetary considerations are not a delaying factor.
Shalom told the conference that the U.S.-backed road map was currently the best operative plan and called for the further easing of restrictions on the Palestinian civilian population. He too called for construction work on the security fence to be completed as soon as possible.
Should talks with the Palestinians fail, he said that the Syrian track should be explored. In response to recent comments by Syrian President Bashar Assad that he would like to restart negotiations with Israel, the foreign minister said that "we must not refuse a hand outstretched in peace, even if it is not for the right reasons," hinting that Syria was seeking to deflect criticism from the U.S. for harboring terrorist organizations.
Netanyahu also told the conference that Israel does not face a demographic threat from the Palestinians who will be under Palestinian control and will enjoy "self determination" in the future, but rather faces a threat from the Israeli Arab population. He believes that it is of the utmost importance to maintain the Jewish majority in the country a d for this the economy must be improved to encourage more Jews to immigrate from the Diaspora and improve the education of "Jew and Arab, boy and girl, man and woman." Netanyahu warned that should the Israeli Arab sector grow to 35-40 percent of the population, Israel will become a bi-national country.
MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash) said in response to Netanyahu's comments that "the day is not far off when Netanyahu and his cohorts will put up roadblocks at the entrances to Arab villages to tie Arab women's tubes and spray us with spermicide."
Hadash MK Mohammed Barakeh said in response that Netanyahu's comments are nothing more than "lowly, ugly racism." He called on the finance minister to end the incitement against the Arab population and to stop viewing its natural growth as a problem.
MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) said in response that Netanyahu was stoking the demographic phobia and hostility towards the Israeli Arab sector. "He who speaks of the Arab citizens as a threat is legitimizing racism," he said.
German FM slams fence
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer criticized Israel on Wednesday for the building of the West Bank separation fence, saying it made no sense from a security standpoint for it to cut into Palestinian territory.
"No one questions Israel's right to defend itself against the terrorist threat," Fischer said, commenting on the barrier of fence, razor wire, trenches and cement that slices deep into the West Bank in some places.
Israel says it is a security fence to keep suicide bombers out of its cities. Palestinians have denounced it as a land grab that hurts efforts to revive a U.S.-backed peace plan and prejudges future borders that should be decided in negotiations.
"If Israel believes that it needs a security fence, that cannot be criticized, as long as this fence follows the course of the Green Line," he said, referring to Israel's frontier with the West Bank before the 1967 war.
"The present course of the fence is, however, barely understandable from a security point of view," Fischer said. "It is precisely this fact that attracts very serious criticism, not just in Israel but also in Europe and the United States."
Despite world criticism of the barrier, Israeli leaders reiterated vows on Wednesday to speed up its construction.
"We will build this fence, the sooner the better," Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the conference.
Earlier Wednesday, Fischer met separately with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, to discuss ways of reviving the flagging peace process.
Fischer said after his meeting with Qureia that he had discussed ways to halt three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, improve living conditions for Palestinians and how to restart the internationally-backed "road map" peace plan.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/373114.html