Posted on 01/17/2002 6:28:06 AM PST by truthandlife
Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who polls indicate has a strong chance of returning to power, said today that a Palestinian state must never be established and that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat must be overthrown.
Netanyahu's statements were seen as a direct challenge to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Both belong to the Likud party, but last summer Sharon came out in favor of a Palestinian state, albeit on much less land than the Palestinians claim.
There is strong support for Arafat's expulsion among hardline elements in the Likud. Sharon has branded Arafat a terrorist and bitter enemy of Israel, but has stopped short of advocating Arafat's ouster, something the United States opposes.
Netanyahu said if the Palestinians achieve independence, Israel will be unable to prevent them from bringing in arms, even if they sign an agreement prohibiting this.
He said the problem was highlighted by Israel's recent seizure of a ship with contraband weapons which Israel says were destined for the Palestinians.
"With its own independent port, such a state would receive shiploads of arms, day and night, and we would find ourselves facing a terrorist state, armed to the teeth," he told Israel Radio.
The only way to stop the current Palestinian attacks on Israelis is to bring down the PA and its leader, Netanyahu said. Expelling Arafat "would make clear to any future Palestinian leadership that if you resort to terrorism, your fate will be like that of the Taliban and Arafat," he said.
Netanyahu said that at a forthcoming session of the Likud Central Committee he will support a motion stating that a Palestinian state must never be established.
A less important Likud forum, the political bureau, passed such a resolution earlier this week, but a decision of the Central Committee will be binding on the party leader, whoever that will be.
No need to ask, the answer is obvious.
Clinton's infatuation with peace processing.
Whoraldo is the lamest excuse for a Jew there has ever been.
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