H.E. Ophir Kariv:

Deputy Brady also said that is true of his party. During the two years I would have loved to have meetings with his party and I asked to have them. I will invite the Deputy again. I am addressing Deputy Brady and Sinn Féin here again today, and I ask him to try to talk also to us and not only about us. It is regrettable that this is our first interaction after my being here for more than two years. I thank him for his comments. I will make some general statements that I hope will begin to answer the questions about Jerusalem, the status of the 1967 lines and the issue of settlements. I will touch upon it on the basis of the main ideas.

As members saw in my presentation, the connection of the Jewish people is to the whole of what we call Israel today. This is where the Jewish people were born, thrived and have their historical, cultural and religious roots. This part of the land members can see on the 1949 to 1967 map, which we now call the West Bank, was formed as a consequence of the war of extermination that was forced on us by the Arab world and the Palestinians, a war that was waged against UN General Assembly Resolution 181 on the partition, the borders, which can be seen on the second map on the left. The Arab world and the Palestinians went to war to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state at the time because it also involved the creation of the Jewish state. That was one of the most important historical sins of Palestinian leadership. It was one of the major ones. The lines delineating the West Bank were forged in the Armistice Agreements between Israel and Jordan in 1949. I will read from the agreement how they were drawn and the logic behind them.

No provision of this Agreement shall in any way prejudice the rights, claims and positions of either Party hereto in the ultimate peaceful settlement of the Palestine question, the provisions of this Agreement being dictated exclusively by military considerations.

and

The Armistice Demarcation Lines defined in articles V and VI of this Agreement are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines or to claims of either Party relating thereto.

This is the agreement that drew what we call today the 1967 lines. This is the agreement that defines, for the first time in history, this piece of land that is now called the West Bank. It was never a border. It was an armistice line and I just outlined the logic behind it and its aim. The United Nations called for the partition of the land between Israelis and Palestinians. There is no question but the Israelis and Palestinians have to find a way to live side by side, be it this way or another. Nobody is going anywhere. Final borders were never drawn in history. This is in contrast to borders in other cultures that are recognised as international borders. The green line between the West Bank and Israel was never meant to be a border.

In this light, one can also see the settlements of Jews going back and continuing with renewed efforts what we started in the 19th century of Jews re-establishing themselves in their historical land. This is not to exclude them again. Some political compromise will have to be found between Israelis and Palestinians. There is, however, no historic division of the land. There never was and was never meant to be in the lines of 1949. That applies even more to Jerusalem.

As I mentioned in my opening words, we are celebrating Hanukkah today. Hanukkah celebrates the dedication of the Jewish temple on Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago. Nobody is in a position to tell Jews this is not their place, with all due respect. Again, this does not exclude or prevent Palestinians to put forward their claims when they come to the negotiating table. It does not prevent them from doing so. This is not a precondition to anything. We call on Palestinians to come to the table without any preconditions. We have strong positions, some of which I just mentioned. They have equally strong positions on their side. I showed the committee where our positions are coming from. The only way to go forward with that is to sit together at the table and try to find a solution to one of the most complicated conflicts in the world today. It is one with historical, religious, national and deep layers.