"I killed many Arabs, probably more than Hamas fighters killed Jews, and more than anybody else, but all in order to secure Israeli lives," said former Israeli Special Forces (Shin Bet) Chief Ami Ayalon over the weekend, a statement criticized Monday by Zahava Gal-On, an Israeli legislator.
Ami Ayalon, Labor Knesset candidate and former Israeli Special Forces (Shin Bet) Chief, made the comments in an interview to a British newspaper.
"We don’t need to kill lots of Arabs to make peace with them," Gal-On responded. "And it is distressing that Ayalon is measuring his ability to communicate with the Palestinians by the number of scalps hanging from his belt. We are also not proposing that Arabs go out and kill a lot of Jews before they launch negotiations with us."
Ayalon also told the newspaper that he would be prepared to hold talks with Hamas if the group accepted the concept of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. "I’d be willing to negotiate with Hamas if the organization accepts the idea of a two-state solution," Ayalon said.
The Hamas party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January and is currently in the process of forming the next government.
