5 Days to Go – Netanyahu's Speech at the UN

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Five days from now Chairman Abbas will submit the request of the Palestinian Arab leadership to the UN to approve their desire for statehood. He will address the General Assembly on Thursday evening of this week and, following his address, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak to the assemblage as well.

Here is what I think our Prime Minister should say:

Members of the world body I stand here this evening as the democratically elected head of the State of Israel, the legitimate homeland of the Jewish people as reaffirmed in San Remo, Italy on April 25, 1920 at a meeting of the allied nations victorious in World War I and based on our 4,000 year connection to this land. At that time those assembled carved up the conquered Ottoman Empire into Iraq, Syria and Palestine and codified the desire of the victors to create a national home for the Jewish people.

The language used did not specify that all of Palestine was to be included in this formulation and the United Nations on November 29, 1947 voted to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish and the other Arab. We accepted that decision and six months later, when the British departed, we declared our independence and our desire to live in peace with our neighbors. The then Arab leadership, the forefathers of the people who now are asking this body to approve its petition for statehood, refused to accept the verdict of the General Assembly and went to war against the fledgling state of Israel.

We were victorious in that war and in the many wars that followed including the Six Day War of 1967 when we captured Gaza, the West Bank, which we call Judea and Samaria, as well as the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Each time we offered to sit down with the Palestinian Arab leadership and discuss an end to the conflict and a final determination of borders so that two states for two peoples could be a reality. Each time we were rebuffed. As a result we became responsible for the welfare of the indigent population, a responsibility we never desired and found seemingly impossible to end.

In 1993 we were finally able to get the Palestinian Arab leadership to sit down with us in Oslo and craft what everyone hoped would be the start of a lasting peace in our land and an eventual end to what is generally known as “the occupation.” But the results were disappointing. The violence against our people continued and the hoped for end of conflict did not materialize. Nevertheless, in July of 2000 my predecessor, Ehud Barak, came to Camp David and offered the Palestinian Arab leadership an independent state on terms that we considered fair and just. But that offer was rejected out of hand and no alternative offer was ever forthcoming from the other side, and the violence continued.

In August 2005, in the belief that in the long term Gaza would have to become part and parcel of the State of Palestine, and as a gesture of good will, we unilaterally withdrew all of the Israelis living in Gaza amid painful discourse within Israel. Our hope was that the local leadership in Gaza, without the interference of Israeli residents and military, would take that land and turn it into the Singapore of the Middle East. Instead, it became the launching pad for continuous rocket attacks against out people and later a territory fully controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization bent on our expulsion from the region.

Now the current Palestinian Arab leadership comes to this General Assembly and asks you to approve their application for statehood so that they can then sit down with us and negotiate peace? But why do they need this? This body voted for Palestinian statehood in 1947 and, for the last 64 years that option has not been exercised. At the insistence of the US government in 2010 we agreed to a 10 month stoppage of settlement construction in an effort to draw the Palestinian Arab leadership back to the negotiating table, but they refused. Yet, when the hiatus on construction was about to expire, they then came back and said if we would extend that suspension yet again, they would consider sitting down at the negotiating table.

In speeches at Bar Ilan University in Israel last year and again in the US Congress this year I made it clear that I fully support the two state solution, and that I was and am prepared to go to Ramallah to meet Chairman Abbas, or to welcome him to Jerusalem or to meet in a neutral location such as Brussels. Instead of an agreement to meet, the position of the Palestinian Arab leadership seemed to harden even further seeing the UN as the next forum for their desire for statehood and now saying that if statehood is approved they are then prepared to sit with us and discuss peace! Based on past history why should we believe them and, more importantly, why should you?

The issues that have been raised by the Palestinian Arab leadership as obstacles to peace need to be resolved in negotiation before this body welcomes the new State of Palestine into membership. For us to support UN membership for a new country that stands fast on its demand for the right of return of all of its past refugees and their descendants until today, that demands the re-partition of Jerusalem so that it can be the capital of the new country, and insists, 66 years after a Holocaust that killed a third of our people, that their new country be Judenrein, would be nothing less than signing our own death warrant and I was not elected Prime Minister to preside over the demise of the enterprise called Israel. And I don’t believe that your intent is to do so either.

So what options are left to me as the head of the government of a sovereign member of the United Nations in good standing, faced with the situation I have just described and having heard this week, as well, from the head of another member nation, Iran, speaking to this forum and urging the dissolution of my country? What would you expect me to do that will ensure the continued viability of the strongest democracy in our part of the world that, through our technological development, has contributed so much to the quality of life of people everywhere? Well, you will be surprised at what I am going to say next.

I am not in favor of simply approving the request of the Palestinian Arab leadership to become a member of the United Nations. But I do believe that the status quo is not sustainable either. As such, I suggest that this body agree to a one year conditional approval of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations with the caveat that if there has been no agreement finalized between us by that time that approval will be revoked. Conditional membership means that while Palestine can sit as a member of the General Assembly, it cannot access other arms of the United Nations, such as the International Court of Justice, during this interim period.

You may then ask: What incentive do we in Israel have to finalize such an agreement? The answer is very simple. Our people are as tired of war and conflict as are the Palestinians. The overwhelming majority of our population would like to see an end to the conflict so that they can live normal lives and stop sending their husbands, sons, and fathers to fight. We believe that with peace we can continue to assist the Palestinian economy to grow and prosper as evidenced by the existing investments in growth funds there by Israeli venture capitalists such as Chemi Peres. We have said for many years that it is in our mutual interest to find a way to co-exist in peace and security.

One year ago US President Obama stood here and expressed his hope that this year would see the entry of the new State of Palestine into the United Nations. But while his efforts and those of the Quartet, among others, were both sincere and appreciated, peace cannot come to our joint land by the efforts of outsiders, no matter how well intentioned. Peace between us is in our hands and, from this podium, I extend the hand of peace to Mahmoud Abbas and say let us sit down together and, between us, hammer out the framework of an agreement the will bring this conflict to a satisfactory end. Neither of us will achieve all we desire but if, at the end of this journey, the future of our children and our children’s children will be secure we will have achieved infinitely more than our predecessors, and engender the eternal gratitude of both of our peoples.

Next week, Jews around the world will usher in the new year of 5772. Unlike most cultures, we do so with prayer, family gatherings and awareness of the biblical injunction to hear the sound of the shofar, the ram’s horn, which reminds us all of God’s power in this universe. And then we greet each other with the words l’shanah tovah tikatev v’taihatem which means may you be inscribed and sealed for a good year. That is our wish today. That the new year about to begin will be one where all of us will be inscribed in the book of life and sealed for a good year of peace and tranquility once and for all for all mankind. We can hope for no less. Thank you!