MK Gilad Kariv, who placed third in The Democrats Party primaries, said Israel should ultimately divide the land and establish a demilitarized Palestinian state as part of a regional agreement, while accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of building up Hamas; he told 103FM on Wednesday.
Kariv discussed his party’s diplomatic vision, the continuing war, and the issue of Palestinian statehood in an interview with Ron Kofman and Prof. Aryeh Eldad on 103FM’s “Five in the Evening” program. During the interview, he sharply criticized the government’s policy toward Hamas.
“Netanyahu did business with Hamas and built it up,” Kariv said. “It was the Israeli Right that built the Hamas state, as a result of unilateral steps.”
Addressing a possible resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kariv said his party supports separation and the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state as part of a broader regional agreement.
“At the end of the diplomatic process, and that will take time, the land will be divided between the two peoples, and alongside the State of Israel there will be a demilitarized Palestinian state within a regional agreement,” he said.
Asked whether it was appropriate to discuss a diplomatic vision while the war was still underway, Kariv said that alongside military action, Israel must also present a clear political objective.
“During a war that has continued for two and a half years, the moment comes when you say, alongside the military measures, what your diplomatic vision is,” he said. “I ultimately want to reach a division of the land in order to ensure the future of the State of Israel as Jewish and democratic, and to end control over millions of Palestinians.”
‘I am not ignoring the polls’
During the interview, Kariv was confronted with polls indicating broad support for Hamas among Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as concerns about the security risks that could be created for residents of the Gaza border communities and central Israel.
“I am not ignoring those polls,” Kariv said. “But you are ignoring other polls that also show a change in the trend regarding Hamas’s conduct, and the support that still exists for a diplomatic agreement. I pursue a diplomatic agreement cautiously and wisely with those forces in Palestinian society that are not Hamas, those people with whom every IDF brigade commander conducts security coordination.”
Yair Golan’s criticism of Israeli settlers
Kariv also addressed remarks by The Democrats Party chairman Yair Golan criticizing the settlement movement. He said Golan’s criticism had been directed at illegal outposts and centers of violence.
“The remarks made by Yair Golan rightly focused on illegal outposts, with an emphasis on those outposts from which organized violence against Palestinians emerges,” Kariv said.
Kariv concluded by discussing the party’s primary results and the high voter turnout.
“We have held digital votes in the past, but we have never had a situation in which 100,000 Israelis voted, and that is a major celebration,” he said.
Source:
www.jpost.com
