Palestinians Reject Unilateral Israeli Pullout
A top Palestinian official rejected a suggestion made by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, according to which Israel should consider unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank in case peace talks failed, saying on Wednesday that such a move would only serve to perpetuate the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Speaking at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) earlier in the day, Barak said: “We are a coalition of 94 MKs, this is the time to lead a diplomatic process,” adding, however, that if such an attempt failed, “we must consider an interim arrangement or even a unilateral move.”
“We are on borrowed time. We will reach a wall, and we’ll pay the price. People who are now in a coma will then ask how we didn’t see [this coming],” he added.
In response to Barak’s remarks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ chief aide Nabil Abu Rudineh said later Wednesday that an “Israeli unilateral moves will lead to the formation of a Palestinian state in temporary borders, to which we object.”
“This policy will lead to the conflict’s continuation and not to a solution, burying the two-state solution,” Abu Rudineh said, adding that the Palestinian Authority was committed to “a final agreement in which a Palestinian state will be formed with Jerusalem as its capital.”
For more, go to Haaretz.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.