Netanyahu: I’ll ‘fiercely reject’ foreign ‘diktats’ on conflict
Before meeting visiting French foreign minister, PM warns against international proposals aimed to push Israel back to indefensible borders
By AP and Times of Israel staff June 21, 2015, 1:15 pm 27
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he would “fiercely reject” any international proposals meant to bring about a unilateral solution to the conflict with the Palestinians against Israel’s will.
“The need to prevent these attacks exists all the time,” Netanyahu said, alluding to the stabbing of a Border Police officer in Jerusalem earlier in the day, “but international proposals suggested to us, in essence they’re trying to force upon us, have no true consideration for the security needs of Israelis or other national interests of ours.”
Netanyahu made the remarks ahead of a visit by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. France has said it would propose a resolution in the United Nations Security Council with a framework for negotiations toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The way to reach an agreement is only through negotiations and we will fiercely reject attempts to impose international diktats,” Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting.
“They’re just trying to push us into borders which are indefensible, while completely ignoring what will be on the other side of the border.”
Netanyahu said that attacks against Israelis would continue with any international proposal that does not take Israel’s security concerns into account.
Early Sunday, a Palestinian assailant stabbed and critically wounded an Israeli policeman in Jerusalem’s Old City. The policeman shot the attacker, critically wounding him, before collapsing and being rushed to a hospital.
On Friday, a Palestinian shot an Israeli hiker to death in the West Bank.
Fabius is coming to the region to sound out leaders about a planned Security Council resolution that aims to restart peace talks after a more than year-long lull.
Palestinian officials and French diplomats have said the proposal would call for basing the borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state on the lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 SiX Day War. It also would set a two-year deadline for an agreement. Israel rejects a return to its pre-1967 lines, saying they are indefensible. It also opposes imposed deadlines.
Two decades of talks brokered mainly by the United States have failed to produce a two-state solution. The latest peace push, led by US Secretary of State John Kerry, fell short in April 2014 after nine months of tense negotiations, and the gaps between Israeli and Palestinian positions remain vast.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-ill-fiercely-reject-foreign-dictates-on-conflict/
