“This remains the true core of the conflict: the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any boundary”, he said, directly contradicting Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday lambasted the United Nations while stressing that the bond between Israel and USA remains unbreakable.
He went on to urge countries to recognise Palestine as a state and said that he would soon present the UN Security Council with a resolution against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which he hopes every country in the 15-member Security Council would support.
The mutual recriminations in Thursday’s speeches underlined the low expectations for any revival of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
However Mr Netanyahu conceded the settlement issue was “real” and “can and must be resolved in final negotiations, final-status negotiations”.
Hanegbi said there had been an “improvement” in Obama’s stance towards the Jewish State in his second term, however he was “not acting as the world’s strongest man, but as an employee of the Clinton campaign”, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Critics argue that Arabs were in the majority at the time and that the declaration failed to adequately take that into account.
The prime minister slammed the “moral farce” of the United Nations and criticized the general United Nations attitude toward Israel. Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition for their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip.
“Actions of Israeli settlers have gone as far as formation of terrorist groups that set entire families on fire” said Abbas, who also called on the United Nations to protect Palestinians from the Israeli aggressions, “If you do not ensure our protection, then who will”?
It was unclear if his offer was meant seriously.
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In fact, the Balfour Declaration – named after the foreign minister at the time – said Britain approved of and would help achieve a Jewish homeland “it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”.
