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Leaked peace document prompts Likud confusion on Palestinian state
Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot published a leaked document which purports to show that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was willing to make major concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA), sparking apparent contradictory statements in his Likud Party regarding a potential Palestinian state.
The Yediot Ahronot article revealed a document which was apparently discussed in 2013 between Netanyahu’s personal envoy Yitzhak Molcho and Hussein Agha, an Oxford academic close to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Describing it as a “document of concessions,” Yediot said that it showed Netanyahu willing to consider a West Bank withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders including land swaps, a potential deal regarding Jerusalem and even a limited right of return for Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s office responded by saying “At no point” did he agree to such measures. Senior Likud figures, Benny Begin and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edlestein subsequently held a press conference to refute the document. Begin accused Yediot of seeking “to blacken the name of … the prime minister and the Likud.”
Meanwhile, over the weekend, a widely distributed newsletter among synagogues across the country included a Likud claim that the positions expressed by Netanyahu in his 2009 Bar Ilan speech had “been annulled,” including his support for a two-state solution. Yesterday, an official statement from the Likud Party appeared to support the assertion, stating that Netanyahu believes “that any evacuated territory would fall into the hands of Islamic extremism … Therefore, there will be no concessions and no withdrawals” and that the question of a Palestinian state is “not relevant.”
Later in the day though, Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying that the Prime Minister “never said any such thing” and “did not make any statement to the effect that the Bar Ilan speech was annulled.”
Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett pointed to the leaked document in Yediot Ahronot and said via social media that voters must choose his party to guard against concessions. Meretz leader Zahava Galon condemned Likud’s “lies, procrastination, biding time, and more lies.”