‘’We are not going to commit suicide and taking the risk of a second Holocaust in the Middle East just in order to show the world that we want peace,’’ declared Israeli Minister of Intelligence, of International Relations and of Strategic Affairs, Yuval Steinitz.
Speaking Wednesday in Jerusalem to a group of European journalists on a press trip to Israel organized by the Europe Israel Press Association (EIPA), the minister warned that what happened in Gaza after Gaza withdrew from the territory (in 2005) can repeat in the West Bank.
The minister's comments came one day after a terrorist attack by two Palestinian terrorists in a synagogue in Jerusalem in which five people were killed and at least seven wounded.
‘’If we will withdraw from the West Bank, large parts of the West Bank will sooner or later, even sooner than later, be controlled by Jihadist forces. Look what a nightmare we got after the Israeli evacuation from Gaza. A nightmare instead of peace. We also pulled out from Lebanon, very strong UN forces were in place to prevent Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, and another nightmare happened. This didn’t happened only to us. The Americans pulled out from Iraq. They said everything is ok, we built a very strong Iraqi police and armed forces. Look what a nightmare it became after they withdrew. A nightmare for the Shias, for the Yazidis, for the Kurds, for the Christians and sometimes even for moderate Sunnis.’’
‘’So to tell us that we should withdraw from the West Bank without defensible borders, without the Jordan valley, without a genuine peace and areal end of the conflict with the Palestinians, in this very special time in the Middle East, it is almost telling us : commit suicide,’’ he said.
‘’It should be crystal clear first that if we will be able to create two states for two peoples, we will have defensible borders, a genuine peac, not a piece of paper, the end of incitement, the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and no further demand for refugees to go inside Israel. A Palestinian state for the Palestinians, a Jewish state for the Jewish people and not a Jewish state for the Palestinians also.’’
‘’ It should be a genuine peace, a real end of the conflict and real security that we can trust. That we can trust that what happened in Gaza cannot repeat itseald in the West Bank,’’ Steinitz stressed.
For him, it is ‘’totally immoral’’ to tell Israel : ‘Take the risk.’’
He went further : ‘’We are ready to make concessions but we need to have a genuine peace, real end of the conflict and real security. Currently when we look at the situation all over the Middle East, it seems very critical. But we are not losing hope. I believe that one day we will be able to have peace with the Arab world and with the Palestinians. But currently it seem to be very critical. If Europe is betraying us instead of supporting it’s even more critical.’’