Naftali Bennett Quotes
We will never agree to give up Jerusalem, a united city under Israeli sovereignty, and only Israeli. We will not accept a terrorist Palestinian state, we will not accept an agreement based on the 67 lines.
Bennett, Naftali. Speech at Jewish Home Campaign Launch. The Jerusalem Post, 2013.
Jerusalem has been disputed by the Israelis and the Arab nations surrounding the city. Both want it as their capital, and both have historic and religious claims on it. When Jerusalem was under Arab control. However no Jew was allowed in the City, even to pray at the holiest of Jewish places, the Western Wall. When Israil gained control, there has been not only free access for Muslims, but they gave the Muslims control over the Temple Mount--holy to both religions. So for Rabin, if Israell does not control the city, Jews will not have access as has been shown by recent history, and the United Nations has deminstrated so often, they will not use force to maintain their committments to protect people or assure access to areas.
In the complicated and arcane Middle East, substantial majorities of Israelis and Palestinians both favored a two state solution, thus creating a Palestinian State out of the West Bank and Gaza. However, the Hamas terrorist organization won the majority of seats in the Parliament and formed the “government” of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas opposed Israel’s right to exist at all, as that position as well as virulent Anti-Semitic threats to all Jews in the world. Many called for Hamas to change their charter and crease their opposition to the right of Israel to exist. The President of the Palestinian authority called for new elections but Hamas refused. Thus Blair and other diplomats the world over were in a very difficult situation.
The Palestinians were split between supporters of Hamas and Fatah. The former was a terrorist organization which refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and whose charter called for the killing of all Jews. The latter, accepted the right of Israel to exist and was committed to peace and coexistence with the Jewish state. They had fought a civil war and Hamas controlled Gaza with well over 1 million people which they seized for force and killed of forced out Fatah Representatives. Fatah was the elected ruling party of the West Bank, the larger and more populous of the Palestinian territories. There was little chance of any peace given that split. However, Israel which had undergone over 7000 rockets fired upon them by Hamas, stated that they refused to negotiate with the Palestinians as long as the Hamas terrorists were a part of the control of the potential Palestinian state. They would only discuss a 2 state solution if Hamas agreed that they accepted the right of Israel to exist in their general territory as a Jewish State, Hamas would accept and follow previous agreements made with the Palestinians, and Hamas would give up terrorism and the objective of killing Jews. So either Hamas would have to change its policies or Israel would negotiate with an organization that claimed it would never accept the existence of that country as a Jewish state. Al-Masri thought that the agreement he had mediated, was a necessary first step and was constructive for all the parties.
Naftali Bennett is an Israeli politician who led the Jewish Home party between 2012 and 2018 and currently serves as an MK for New Right. Between 2013 and 2015, he held the posts of Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Minister of Economy and Minister of Religious Services. From 2015 he continued as Minister of Diaspora Affairs and became Minister of Education. From 2019 to 2020 he was Minister of Defense.
