Ayman Odeh Quotes

It simply cannot be disputed that for decades the Palestinian leadership was more interested in there not being a Jewish state than in there being a Palestinian state.

There is no way Israel will deal with the Palestinians if the Palestinians do not understand the suffering of the Jewish people.

There are many Palestinians, to be diplomatic, who believe there is no way to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, first of all, and there are a lot of people that believe there is no way to recognize Israel at all.

Arafat rejected the deal because, as a dictator who had directed all his energies toward strengthening the Palestinians hatred toward Israel, Arafat could not afford to make peace.

If you are asking for my point of view, I would say that the Palestinians should go back to Palestine.

The idea that the rest of the world was somehow being held hostage by the Arab-Israeli conflict once had a minimal basis in reality. In the first 20 years of Israel's existence, every Arab country was in an active state of war with the Jewish state.

Look, the hard-line Jewish position is based, to this day, on the idea that the Palestinian Arabs somehow or other will either accept third-class status, or they will pick up and go away. Now, this isn't happening.

The existence of these refugees is a direct result of the Arab States' opposition to the partition plan and the reconstitution of the State of Israel. The Arab states adopted this policy unanimously, and the responsibility of its results, therefore is theirs

There is a feeling among the Arabs - encouraging terrorist activity is part of the broad new Arab strategy - that sooner or later, Israel will be forced to withdraw from Samaria, Judea and Gaza.

We need to separate the two peoples: Israeli Arabs are part and parcel of Israel, and Palestinians should be separate, as part of a two-state solution.

There are many Palestinians who believe there is no way to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. They call for the right of the return of refugees to Israel - something which is unacceptable for the consensus in Israel and which strikes at the very heart of this issue.

Sooner or later, Israel will have to defeat Hamas. There is no way around it.

The real reason we haven't had peace is because of a persistent refusal of the Palestinians to recognize a Jewish state in any border.

If you want to be a Jewish state and you want to remain a democracy, you have to have a two-state solution.

I don't think there's going to be peace as long as Israel is occupying land that belongs to the Palestinians, to Lebanon and to Syria.

Bringing an end to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians may help the young Arab generation to realise their aspirations. Israel is more than willing to offer our experience in building a modern economy in spite of limited resources to the whole region.

There cannot be peace in the Middle East without giving Palestinians their full rights.

The central premise behind Oslo was that if Arafat were given enough legitimacy, territory, weapons and money, he would use his power to fight terror and make peace with Israel.

Since its very inception, Israel has been a threat.

Palestinians don't really believe in a state of Israel. They, unlike a majority of Israelis, who have come to the conclusion that they can live with a two-state solution to be determined by the parties, the majority of Palestinians are still very reluctant, and they need to be pushed to get there.

I don't know where Bush is going - yet. But, Sharon obviously - I wrote somewhere in the last several months, that Sharon has adopted, essentially, the position of the Labor Party: that the Palestinians are here to stay.

The United States is for a two-state solution. The United States wants to see the Israelis and Palestinians come together.

We're saying this to both countries: We want a two-state solution. We want a Jewish state of Israel and alongside a independent Palestinian state. Unilateral measures are not helping at all to bring about this cause, and we agree that we wish to cooperate very closely on this, because as we both say, time is of the essence.

Hamas says in its charter they want to see a world without Israel. They want to obliterate Israel.

By focusing once and for all on helping the Palestinians build a free society, I have no doubt that an historic compromise between Israelis and Palestinians can be reached and that peace can prevail.