A leading Christian Zionist says although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's endorsement of a Palestinian state was "just for show," it puts the necessary requirements on such a state.
Prime Minister Netanyahu endorsed a Palestinian state, but has added conditions that are already being rejected by Palestinian leaders. In an address to the Israeli people last night, Netanyahu said the Palestinian state would have to be unarmed and recognize Israel as the Jewish state. With those conditions, he said, he could accept a "demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state." Jim Hutchens, president of The Jerusalem Connection International, says while it was a concession to pressure from the U.S. and the international community, Netanyahu's conditional endorsement of a Palestinian state was "absolutely necessary." He notes the Palestinians have refused to renounce violence, acknowledge Israel's right to exist, and abide by any past agreements. "We have to recognize that in the last analysis, the Palestinians do not want peace and that the Israelis really have no peace partner -- number one, because of the fact that the Palestinians don't want peace, but secondly because there's no united leadership within the Palestinian community," he says. Hutchens says ending Kassam rocket attacks and other assaults on the Israeli people is a necessary prerequisite for a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians will never agree to disarm. He also predicts the standoff will continue in the Mideast because the Palestinians are also unwilling to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. In his address, Netanyahu also refused to heed the U.S. call for an immediate freeze of construction on lands Palestinians claim for their future state, and he said Jerusalem must remain under Israeli sovereignty.
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