Left-wing politicians: 'The era of annexation, Arab transfer has ended'
The time has come to end any talk of unilateral annexation and the transfer of Israeli-Arabs to a Palestinian state, the leaders of Labor-Gesher-Meretz said.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFLabor leader Amir Peretz and Meretz chairman Nitzan Horowitz(photo credit: LABOR-GESHER PARTY SPOKESPERSON)
The time has come to return to the Oslo process, and to end any talk of unilateral annexation and the transfer of Israeli-Arabs to a Palestinian state, the leaders of Labor-Gesher-Meretz said on Wednesday.“The days of unilateral threats, annexation statements and ideas regarding the transfer of Israeli-Arab citizens are over. Hope for peace will return to the Cabinet table! Hope for peace will be restored to the public discourse!” Labor-Gesher party head Amir Peretz said at a conference in Tel Aviv.He and Meretz party head Nitzan Horowitz spoke of what their presence in a government headed by Blue and White party head Benny Gantz would look like.Gantz has already said he would accept US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which calls for the Israeli annexation of 30% of the West Bank.But Peretz and Horowitz said they would ensure that a Gantz led government would adhere to the dictates of the Oslo process of the 1990s and follow in the path of former prime minister Yitzak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995.Peretz said he would ensure that a renewed peace process would be written into the new government’s platform and that it would be resumed within 90-days of the formation of the government.“The peace process will be renewed at a regional conference led by Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, with the participation of the international community that supports peace. We will renew the peace process to come to a final status agreement that will determine Israel’s permanent borders,” Peretz said.”I want to fulfill my personal vision of making peace a popular national product, a peace process that every employee, every supermarket cashier will feel benefits them,” Peretz said.“We will make the peace process an important economic lever for the citizens of Israel. The renewal of the peace process will also bring about the resumption of economic growth,” he said.The Oslo process, which the right has tried to destroy, still exists, Horowitz said, adding: “No one has dared revoke it because its principles ensure the existence of two peoples, even today.”
Both Peretz and Horowitz noted that Rabin had seen a direct link between peace and economic prosperity. In particular Rabin had held that Israeli-Arabs were an important part of that process, the two politicians explained.Horowitz said that under a Gantz led government, a partnership would be renewed with Israeli-Arab society. Rabin’s government was supported by the Arab parties even though they were not members of that government. Horowitz explained that unprecedented things happened in the 1990s as a result of that support, which led equity and economic prosperity. The same kind of prosperity can happen now as well, he added.The Palestinian Authority, which was created by the Oslo process, has insisted that it wants a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines. Neither the Oslo process nor the Trump peace plan call for a two-state solution based on those lines.
