Netanyahu tells CBS that he's 'disappointed' with Arab reaction
Give Binyamin Netanyahu credit, he's playing this for all it's worth. In an interview with CBS Evening News on Monday night, Netanyahu says that he's 'disappointed' with Arab reaction to his Sunday night speech, that his formula for peace is equitable and that his 'settlements' policy is designed to let people have normal lives. He also talks about Iran a bit.Let's go to the videotape.
Watch CBS Videos Online
Here's some of what he said:
I'm disappointed because I took a step, not an easy step. And I said, 'Here's what we are prepared to do for peace. We're prepared to have a Palestinian state next to a Jewish state.'Disappointed? I'd bet Bibi is laughing all the way to the bank. He's looking like a master politician these days - a worthy rival to The One.
There are two points here,... One, that Palestinians recognize the Jewish state the same way we're asked to recognize the Palestinians. The second is that the Palestinian state be demilitarized so that we don't experience once again the hurling of thousands of rockets on our cities.
I think this is an equitable formula for peace. It's one that enjoys enormous unity in the Israeli public and I think among Israel's friends and supporters abroad and the supporters of peace abroad.
So, yes, I suppose I'd like a better response. And maybe it'll sink in over time. But I think I've opened the door for peace. And I hope that the Palestinians and the Arab world respond to it.
...
We will not build new settlements; we won't expropriate additional land for existing settlements… I hope that my government and the Obama administration can find common grounds.
The question of not expanding the territory is different from freezing life. You know, you have children, you have babies born, what are you going to do with them? You have to give them kindergartens, you have to give them schools.
I don't want to grab new land, but we really want people to have normal lives until that final agreement is reached.
...
I think it unmasks the fundamental nature of the Iranian regime. It's not a democracy. In democracies you don't have violence in the wake of elections, you have a resolution.
How can you say the elections were true elections? We know the true nature of the Iranian regime, I hope the entire world now knows that too.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:34 PM
2 Comments:
A good interview, particularly since CBS chose to accompany it with video footage of missile-ravaged Sderot and then the settlers while Bibi explained that you cannot expect people not to have babies or build kindergartens. The explanation and accompanying pictures humanized the settlers in a way that is all too often absent from MSM reporting.
Bibi only erred I feel, when he used the term "land grab" -- a favorite of the MSM -- in promising not to expand settlements. It's sad that despite the reality of most settlements being built on either Jewish-owned or vacant land, we are so inundated with the vocabulary of the anti-Israel press, even the PM has a tendency to adopt it.
Netanyahu has good reason to smile these days. The Palestinians reacted exactly as he anticipated. The "peace process" is going into a deep freeze. That is due to the absence of a partner on the other side. Its the best of all worlds for Israel.
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