Thursday, December 29, 2016

Dore Gold: Kerry's 'one-state solution' is an empty threat

The former director-general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Dore Gold, referred Thursday on Galei Tzahal to the suggested guidelines presented by Secretary of State John Kerry in his speech yesterday.

Gold stated that this was not the first time there were tensions between the Israeli government and the Obama administration and there had been difficult moments between the countries on many previous occasions.

"I remember Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and George Bush Sr., I remember the period after Menachem Begin ordered the bombing of the Osirak reactor in Iraq," said Gold. "There are times of tension but things work out in the end because we have joint values and strategic interests."

Gold disclosed that from his contacts with Palestinian officials he understood that Kerry's threat of a "one-state solution" is an empty threat. "I can say that for a period of years when I was serving in the Foreign Affairs ministry, I used to meet with officials close to the Palestinian leadership in a European city to hear their opinions without CNN and cameras around us, and they said 'Dore, the talk of one state is not realistic. You can decide what borders you want.' I think this is correct. We do not want one state with all the Palestinians but on the other hand we need to define defensible borders."

"Mr. Kerry did not explain how Israel ought to defend itself while chaos is raging in Syria and could spill over to other Middle Eastern countries. Israel must stay strong - this is the policy of Prime Minister Netanyahu," said Gold. READ MORE