Is it Israel’s responsibility to build a Palestinian state?
 
AHRON SHAPIRO
THE panel discussion at Limmud-Oz on whether it was Israel’s responsibility to build a Palestinian state was strongly attended and especially timely following US President Barack Obama’s speech to the Muslim world recommending that a Palestinian state be created.
Sydney-based international law expert David Knoll opened the forum with a concise and expert analysis of international law in relation to Israel’s responsibilities. Knoll’s summary revealed the complexity of a question that has no simple answers.
Israeli journalist Ehud Ya’ari turned the Palestinian state question on its head when he asserted that it was clearly in Israel’s interest to have a benign Palestinian state governing the Palestinians, and that the Palestinian leadership today was actively running away from statehood.
Ya’ari said he was part of a group of Israeli representatives sent into the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 to ascertain the willingness of the local community leaders to support the creation of a Palestinian state. He said they rejected it. The same dismissal, he said, has continued unabated to the present time.¬†Territorial integrity is more important than statehood among most Palestinians today, Ya’ari contended.¬†A growing number of voices among the Palestinians are looking not for a two-state solution, but a two-government solution that would operate within the same territory, Ya’ari said.
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