Strong Words for Hard Times

December 1, 2011

The truth is that Israel wants peace.

The truth is that I want peace.

The truth is that in the Middle East—at all times, but especially during these turbulent days—peace must be anchored in security.

The truth is that we cannot achieve peace through UN resolutions but only through direct negotiations between the parties.

The truth is that so far the Palestinians have refused to negotiate.

www.theisraelproject.org The truth is that Israel wants peace with a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians want a state without peace.

And the truth is you shouldn’t let that happen.

“…[Palestinian Authority] President Abbas said on this podium that the Palestinians are armed only with their hopes and dreams. Yeah, hopes, dreams, and 10,000 missiles and rockets in Gaza supplied by Iran, not to mention the river of lethal weapons now flowing there from the Sinai, Libya, and elsewhere.

“Thousands of missiles have already rained down on our cities. Given all this, Israelis rightly ask: What’s to prevent this from happening again in the West Bank? Most of our major cities in the south of the country are within a few dozen kilometers from Gaza. But in the center of the country, our cities are a few hundred meters or, at most, a few kilometers away from the edge of the West Bank.

“…I continue to hope that President Abbas will be my partner for peace. We have to stop negotiating about the negotiations. Let’s just get on with it. Let’s negotiate peace.

IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz on the Israeli_Syrian border
flikr/idfspokesperson.com “…Now we’re in the same city. We’re in the same building. So let’s meet here today, in the United Nations. Who’s there to stop us? What is there to stop us? Let’s listen to one another. I’ll tell you my concerns. You’ll tell me yours, and with God’s help, we’ll find a common ground for peace. I cannot make peace alone. I cannot make peace without you.

“…There’s an old Arab saying that you cannot applaud with one hand. Well, the same is true of peace. I cannot make peace alone. I cannot make peace without you. President Abbas, I extend my hand—the hand of Israel—in peace. I hope that you will grasp that hand. We are both the sons of Abraham. My people call him Avraham. Your people call him Ibrahim. We share the same patriarch. We dwell in the same land. Our destinies are intertwined. Let us realize the vision of Isaiah: ‘The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.’ Let that light be the light of peace.”
           —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN, September 23, 2011,
               for the full speech: www.pmo.gov.il/ English/ PM Speeches

 

Mahmoud Abbas “Don’t order us to recognize a Jewish state. We won’t accept it.”   
           —Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority,
               to a Jordanian newspaper

 

Michael Oren “We have a lot of agreements with the Palestinian Authority; we have no agreements with a ‘government of Palestine.’ It’s just a fact—we have no agreements with a ‘government of Palestine.’ It puts us in a different realm,” said Michael Oren, adding that the move would render invalid economic treaties, including export, import and water sharing, as well as security cooperation agreements.“
           —Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the US in an interview with
               Foreign Policy magazine

 

Avigdor Lieberman “Countries around the world must make it clear to Abbas that the only way the Palestinians will be able to have a state is by stopping their attempt to destroy the only Jewish state in the world.”  
           —Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Foreign Minister

 

 

On Syria

Ban Ki-Moon
www.wikipedia.
org/ Gobierno de Chil “Syria is a special concern. For six months, we have seen escalating violence and repression. The government has repeatedly pledged to undertake reforms and listen to its people. It has not done so. The moment to act is now. The violence must stop.”  
            —United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

 

Bashar Assad
www.wikipedia.
org/ Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom “If a crazy measure is taken against Damascus, I will need not more than six hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights [in northern Israel on Syria’s border] to fire them at Tel Aviv.”
           —Syrian President Bashar Assad in a meeting with
               Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, according to
               Farsi Iranian newspaper

 

 

On Islamic Ambition

“The Jews are brought in droves to Palestine so that the Palestinians and the Islamic nation behind them will have the honor of annihilating the evil of this gang.  All the predators, all the birds of prey, all the dangerous reptiles and insects, and all the lethal bacteria are far less dangerous than the Jews. In just a few years, all the Zionists and the settlers will realize that their arrival in Palestine was for the purpose of the great massacre, by means of which Allah wants to relieve humanity of their evil.  

“When Palestine is liberated and its people return to it, and the entire region, with the grace of Allah, will have turned into the United States of Islam, the land of Palestine will become the capital of the Islamic Caliphate.”
           —Yunis Al-Astal, Hamas member of Parliament and cleric on Al-Aqsa TV,
               translated by Palestinian Media Watch

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