Vilna'i: PM should help establish Palestinian state

Homeland security minister says Netanyahu should work towards a solution where "we are guaranteed security, they're guaranteed a state."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
311_Matan Vilnai (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
311_Matan Vilnai
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Homeland Security Minister Matan Vilna'i on Saturday called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to work towards the creation of a Palestinian state.
"The prime minister needs to behave like [former prime minister] Menachem Begin, who acted against the opinions of many in his party, and to [work towards] establishing a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel," Vilna'i said at an event in Holon.
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The minister added, "we cannot arrive at a point where a Palestinian state is declared unilaterally. Therefore, the government must find a solution, through dialogue, in which we are guaranteed security and they are guaranteed a state."
Vilna'i also addressed a demonstration that took place Thursday in front of Tel Aviv's Independence Hall, in which nearly two dozen Israel Prize winners expressed their support for the creation of a Palestinians state and were met with calls of "traitor."
He said, "We have a difficult argument in Israeli society on the subject of peace. The demonstration by leftist organizations at Independence Hall in Tel Aviv expressed one of the opinions in the argument. [That] opinion is legitimate as is the right of the protesters in a democratic state to express those opinions."
Those blocking the creation of a Palestinian are Hamas members, Vilna'i claimed. "Hamas erred when it conquered the Gaza Strip and turned it into a terror base both above and under ground."
Instead of the Palestinians arguing that they are capable of managing a state, Hamas in Gaza is turning the Palestinians back to terror, he said. The Palestinian leadership's job, Vilna'i claimed, "is to fight Hamas and to win that fight. Hamas is an organization that doesn't understand any language other than the language of war."