Left wing plans rally supporting Palestinian statehood

Peace Now: "PM shut the door on Obama and Abbas"; Gush Shalom says PM's speech shows extremist position wrapped in rhetoric, cliches.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
gush shalom 224 (photo credit: Courtesy)
gush shalom 224
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Under the banner “Netanyahu said ‘no.’ Israelis say, ‘yes,’” leftwing groups plan to rally for a Palestinian state on Saturday night, June 4, in Kikar Rabin in Tel Aviv.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke in Washington Tuesday about recognizing a Palestinian state achieved through negotiations, but he put forward so many pre-conditions that he made such talks impossible, said Peace Now Executive Director Yariv Oppenheimer.
RELATED:Dayan: We'll remember PM's readiness to give up W. BankPA on Congress speech: PM's policies won't bring peace MKs unsold by Netanyahu speech to Congress
“Netanyahu shut the door in front of [US President Barack] Obama and [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas,” Oppenheimer said.
“The outcome is that we won’t see any negotiations,” Oppenheimer said.
Instead the Palestinians will continue to pursue unilateral statehood at the United Nations and in advance of that process, there will be increased clashes between Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank, Oppenheimer warned.
He acknowledged that Netanyahu, in his statements, had moved further to the left.
“But,” he said, “It is too little, too late.”
Adam Keller of Gush Shalom also attacked the speech. “The extremist position that Netanyahu presented, wrapped in rhetoric and cliches, constitutes a final closing of the door to renewed negotiations and an embarkation on a course of collision with the Palestinians and the entire world, towards the inevitable ‘diplomatic tsunami’ predicted by Defense Minister [Ehud] Barak. In the longer term it may actually turn out that Netanyahu – the very man who demands of the entire world to recognize the principle of ‘A Jewish State’ – will be the one who drives the Palestinians to despair of achieving their own state and into demanding a vote for the Knesset instead,” he said.
Peace Now and Gush Shalom are among a wide coalition of peace groups who are organizing the rally, along with members of the Meretz, Hadash and Labor parties.