I commend Mervyn Danker for his perceptive op-ed column (“A Palestinian state should be the result of negotiations,” Sept. 16) as right on the mark.
Abbas needs to negotiate directly with Netanyahu without pre-conditions and accept Israel as a Jewish state. Also, the creation of a Palestinian state via the UN will in no way end the Mideast conflict, but will only add to the instability in the region. It will not serve the interest of the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu spoke the truth to the General Assembly following Abbas’s speech when he said the United Nations has become both a “house of lies” and a “theater of the absurd” in its obsession to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and to falsify the history of the Palestinians’ own self-inflicted wounds.
The Palestinians came to the UN to get a state, but without giving Israel peace in return. What cannot be overlooked is the fact that the Gaza half of the proposed Palestinian state is ruled by Hamas that has openly called for the destruction of Israel and a genocide against the Jewish people.
UN Security Council Resolution 242 adopted on November 22, 1967 is the cornerstone for what it calls “a just and lasting peace” that recognizes Israel’s need for “secure and recognized boundaries.” The resolution became the foundation for future peace negotiations.
Netanyahu has extended his hand in peace. It is time that Abbas stop playing political games and accept it. This may well result for the Jewish and Palestinian people living side by side with a real and lasting negotiated peace agreement.
Pressuring Israel to make only one-sided concessions will not work.