Call to Reexamine Two-state Solution

August 3, 2009

“These assumptions stood behind the Oslo process, and its failure indicates that they deserve to be reexamined,” Yaalon said. “Such examination will reveal that, whereas the Israelis were really ready for this kind of a solution, including myself, the Palestinians do not accept that ‘the two-state solution’ refers to two states for two peoples. In their view, one state should be the Palestinian state and the national identity of the other state should remain undefined, so that in the future, it can become a Palestinian state as well,” he said.

Israel wishes to keep “all options” open in respect to the character of the future Palestinian entity, he said, adding that just like the Americans, Israel believes in honesty between friends. Yaalon also proposed a different “Road Map” en route to separation from the Palestinians that would not threaten Israel, focusing on reforms in five key areas: Palestinian education, economy, politics, law and order, and security.

“We believe that an almost exclusively top-down approach that characterized the way the Palestinian issue was handled under the Oslo and Annapolis processes should be replaced by a determined performance-based, bottom-up approach that characterized the Road Map,” he said, adding that such approach “would focus first on building the necessary infrastructure for peace. We have spoken much over the past few years about dismantling the infrastructure of terror. Let us begin to talk about building an infrastructure for peace.”

Excerpts from an article by Yitzhak Benhorin, Ynetnews.com

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