“The choice between allowing Jews to live in all parts of the land of Israel and living in a state with a Jewish majority mandates giving up parts of the Land of Israel. We cannot continue to control parts of the territories where most of the Palestinians live.
“Israel will keep security zones, main settlement blocs, and places important to the Jewish people, first of all, Jerusalem, united under Israeli control. There can be no Jewish state without Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.”
And there will not be a Palestinian state under these conditions. The soon-to-be formed new Palestinian government will see to that.
Meanwhile, the Arab Association for Human Rights has released a report, “Beyond the Walls”:
“In the State of Israel, the Palestinian Arab minority and the Jewish majority live largely in separate areas. With the exception of ‘mixed cities’, in which a significant Palestinian minority lives alongside a clear Jewish majority, most Palestinians and Jews live in their own communities, in a territorial separation of sorts.
“Apart from this territorial separation, recent years have seen the establishment of separation walls and fences between Arab and Jewish communities within the State of Israel, and, in other cases, between Arab and Jewish neighbourhoods within the same city. This physical separation has been initiated by the Israeli establishment and is meant to prevent physical or even eye contact between the two populations. The reasons offered as to why these walls have been established seem rather foreign to the realities on the ground.
“This report aims to provide a review of these walls and fences as they manifest themselves in three areas within Israel, and to discuss the human rights violations they entail.”
Today’s comments by Olmert suggest that Israel has no intention of eradicating discrimination against non-Jews. By saying that he wants to begin, “setting the permanent borders of the state of Israel to ensure a Jewish majority”, he would ideally like no Palestinians or Arabs at all, but alas, international pressure would not allow such a move. Instead, expect further resistance to negotiate with the Palestinians – especially if Hamas “terrorists” are in government – and a growing realisation among Palestinians that a one-state solution may be the only long-term solution. Israelis may continue fencing themselves in, but living in a highly militarised penitentiary will eventually become unbearable.