Likud MK: ‘Netanyahu’s two-state speech was a tactical move’

Noam Sheizaf By Noam Sheizaf December 31, 2012 | Edit

The prime minister’s Likud-Beitenu party has yet to present a platform for the upcoming elections, and if one is to be published, it most likely won’t include any reference to a future Palestinian state. Education Minister Sa’ar: ‘it is time to sober up from the idea.’

Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not intend to ever carry out the evacuation of West Bank settlements, and that the Bar Ilan speech, in which he accepted in principle the idea of a demilitarized Palestinian state, was meant to please the world and corner the Palestinian leadership, Walla reports.

Appearing at an election event in Jerusalem, Hotovely (#15 on the Likud-Beitenu list to the Knesset) stated:

The Bar Ilan speech was a tactical speech intended for the world…the prime minister was facing an unbearable reality and the speech exposed the Palestinians’ true nature. Likud will not evacuate settlements.

Hotovely added that Ehud Barak will not serve in the new government, an estimate that is shared by most political observers, since the rising power of the settlers within the Likud will allow them to veto his candidacy. Hotovely also estimated that Moshe Ya’alon will serve as the defense minister in the new government.

The Likud-Beitenu party has yet publish a platform for the upcoming elections, and prominent figures within the party demand that if such a document is published, it should not include any reference to a future Palestinian state. The winner of the Likud primaries, Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, told Ynet that the idea of a Palestinian state was never in the Likud platform and should not be implemented. At another event, Sa’ar said that “it is time to sober up from the idea of a Palestinian state.”

On Monday, a spokesperson for Netanyahu told the Jerusalem Post that the prime minister stands behind his support for the idea of a Palestinian State.

Noam Sheizaf

Noam Sheizaf is an independent journalist and editor. He was the founding executive director and editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine. Prior to joining +972, he worked for Tel Aviv’s Ha-ir local paper, Ynet, and the Maariv daily, where his last position was deputy editor of the weekend magazine. He is currently working on a number of documentary films.

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