Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Dan Meridor, stated that the Palestinian state will never be established along the 1967 six-day war border, adding that there should be different maps, and certain compensations.Meridor stated that Israel will lose if it continues to build settlements in the occupied territories, and that it must use a reasonable policy with or without a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
The Deputy PM said that Israel should freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank, but should continue to develop existing settlements.
Talking to the “Times Of Israel”, Meridor stated that “Israel should not be building settlements all over the place”, as such a move harms Israel’s stance in the international arena.
He said that Israel’s international reputation is harmed when the Israeli government builds settlements everywhere, and tells the world that it is seeking peace with the Palestinians.
Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization are refusing to resume the peace process due to Israel’s ongoing violations, including its ongoing settlement construction and expansion in the West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem.
Meridor affirmed that “a settlement freeze does not apply to East Jerusalem, and large settlement blocs in the West Bank that Israel wants to keep under any final-status peace agreement.
He further stated that the current relative calm between Israel and the Palestinians does not mean that the current situation will last forever.
There are more than 300,000 settlers living in the occupied West Bank, while extremist settler groups are seeking more construction and expansion, a move seen by the Palestinians as an act that is meant to impose facts on the ground as they keep losing lands for the benefit of Israel’s illegal settlements.
