Thursday, March 19, 2009

We want the land, not the people

Uzi Arad: 'It is territory we want to preserve, but populations we want to rid ourselves of.'
Paul Woodward, War in Context: During an interview on Israel National News TV, Arad was asked whether the time has come to abandon the two-state solution. This is how he responded:

'I don't think that one has to do that far because at the end of the day, I don't think the majority of Israelis want to see themselves responsible for the Palestinians. We do not want to control the Palestinian population. It's unnecessary. What we do want is to care for our borders, for the Jewish settlements and for areas which are unpopulated and to have our security interests served well. But also to take under our responsibility these populations which, believe me, are not the most productive on earth, would become a burden. We want to relieve ourselves of the burden of the Palestinian populations -- not territories. It is territory we want to preserve, but populations we want to rid ourselves of.'

This comes from the man tipped to become Netanyahu's national security adviser. [Because of alleged contact with Larry Franklin, an American indicted on espionage charges, Arad is currently banned from entering the United States.]
Image source here.