Israeli general: Palestinians have never recognized our state

Former chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Moshe “Bogey” Ya'alon, spoke at the Jerusalem Conference yesterday, noted that no Palestinian leader has ever recognized Israel's right to exist.

“We suffer from inertia in our way of thought. We pretend that there is a Palestinian entity which has recognized Israel. But from the dawn of Zionism there has not been an Arab movement that was willing to recognize Israel as the sovereign state of the Jewish nation. Mahmoud Abbas said it well before Annapolis: ‘Why should Judaism, this religion, have a state?’ But we didn't want to listen. We blur this in the political and public debate.”

“We pretend that the problem began in the Six Day War. But did the Arabs recognize us before the Six Day War? We wanted peace in exchange for territories, but we received terror for territories. And when we exited Gaza unilaterally, we received rockets for territory... After the Disengagement we went to Annapolis anyways. We didn't change the concept. Isn't this confusion?”

“We pretend that the conflict is the Middle East is a territorial one but it is a clash of civilizations. We retreat from Lebanon and we think that this will cancel the Hizballah's reason for existing but the exact opposite happens.”

“We must stop talking about territories for peace, about the division of Jerusalem, and let the Arabs in Judea and Samaria have autonomy. Just by talking about retreats we give jihadist Islam a boost.”

“We need leadership that doesn't say 'we are tired of fighting wars.' The nation is not tired and the army is not tired. If the leadership is tired it should be changed. As for another statement, that the state of Israel is finished if we do not return to the 1967 borders: time works in favor of whoever makes good use of it.”