BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday outlined the dangers of increasing regional volatility and advocated for Kurdish independence from Iraq and construction of a security fence along the entirety of Israel’s eastern border.

Netanyahu was making a policy speech at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv. Addressing the striking military gains made by the Sunni Jihadist ISIS group in Iraq, Netanyahu said that although “two camps are our bitter foes – the Shi’ites led by the Iranians and the Sunnis led by al-Qaeda and ISIS,” they are “also other people’s enemies as well,” offering “an opportunity for enhanced regional cooperation.”

Netanyahu said that consequently there is an opportunity to “build an axis for regional collaboration,” specifically “to support the international efforts to strengthen Jordan, and support the Kurds’ aspiration for independence.” Israel enjoys warm relations with Jordan and is thought to have maintained discreet contacts with Iraq’s Kurds for decades, recently taking its first delivery of Kurdish crude oil from northern Iraq.

Given the threat that ISIS poses to Jordan, Netanyahu said “it’s obvious why I’m stubbornly asking that our security border should remain along the Jordan River.” He announced, “The first thing that we need to do is to build a security fence on our eastern border,” from Eilat in the south to the northern Golan Heights, which Netanyahu said would greatly reduce the threat of infiltrations.

Netanyahu also said that “No one can guarantee the security of the state of Israel except the IDF,” saying that the examples of Iraq and Gaza show “We can no longer trust that local forces trained by the West will curb and stop the Islamic penetration.” Speaking of the need to co-ordinate security measures with a new approach to a solution with the Palestinians, Netanyahu said “I believe we should promote this updated approach to a settlement with the Palestinians – that is, political and economic control of the Palestinian territories will be under their jurisdiction, but in parallel, a continuation of Israeli security activities in the territory, in accordance with operational needs, to ensure the demilitarisation of the sources of terror.”

Netanyahu stressed the on-going threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program and urged that at Iran’s enrichment facilities should be dismantled, just as Syria’s chemical weapons facilities were.

Netanyahu’s speech was made a seminar to discuss Israel options to move forward in the absence of a final status agreement with the Palestinians, at which INSS Director Amos Yadlin proposed a plan for Israel to advance towards a two state reality by independently separating from the Palestinians in the West Bank.