Rivlin to AIPAC: Tell Obama administration to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
Rivlin said PA President Abbas, whom he referred to as “my good friend,” did not want to negotiate with Israel on a two-state solution unless there was parity between Israel and the Palestinians.
By GREER FAY CASHMANPresident Reuven Rivlin visits Border Police officers at a checkpoint near Jerusalem(photo credit: HAIM ZACH/GPO)
What happened in France could happen anywhere in the world, President Reuven Rivlin told a large American Israel Public Affairs Committee delegation on Wednesday. Although some terrorists call themselves freedom fighters he said, “Terror is terror all over.”Speaking at his residence of the commonalities between Israel and the United States, Rivlin said that both share concerns for the safety of the free world, and underscored that there are extremists everywhere who often act without provocation.Rivlin also alluded to recent calls by him and other Israeli leaders for Jews living in countries where terrorism and anti-Semitism are rife to make their homes in Israel, which he said was not created as compensation for the Holocaust, “but which showed us that we have to create a haven for the Jewish people in case of need.”He noted that the return to Zion began more than a hundred years before the birth of political Zionism.On several occasions during the meeting, Rivlin emphasized the importance of Israel’s relations with the United States as well as the significance of what AIPAC is doing on Israel’s behalf.“You don’t know how much we appreciate you and how grateful we are for what you do,” he said, before asking the members of AIPAC to use their efforts and abilities with the US administration to help renew the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians, with a view to reaching a final-status agreement.Rivlin said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas does not want to resume negotiations unless he could be assured of parity between “Palestine” and Israel. Abbas wants an air force, because Israel has an air force, and an international airport because Israel has Ben-Gurion International Airport, and a border with Jordan because Israel has a border with Jordan.
