Israel should take steps to improve the lives of Palestinian Arabs, but the Palestinian Authority (PA) must also end its incitement to terror against Israelis, President Reuven Rivlin said on Tuesday.
Rivlin’s comments came in an op-ed in The Washington Post, ahead of his meeting on Wednesday with President Barack Obama.
Rivlin begins the op-ed by saying that “there is no currently viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is no diplomatic process underway, and no indication of imminent negotiations.”
But, he continues, “even with no way forward, even with no clear timetable for an end to the conflict — the tragedy that envelops us all — we are duty bound to recognize where and how we can take effective action to improve the prospect that we will be able to live together, Jews and Arabs, in our region as we are destined rather than doomed to do.”
“Israel must take steps to improve the situation independent of the geopolitical territorial debate — steps that every sensible person understands serve simultaneously Israel’s moral and practical interests,” wrote Rivlin. “Without resolving the question of whether or not Israel today has a Palestinian partner for peace, it is self-evident that the building of the new Palestinian city, Rawabi, is in Israel’s interest. Likewise, it is clear that cultivating channels of communication and cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian businessmen, educators and cultural figures improves our situation.”
“Is there anyone who does not see the value and importance of the majority of the Jewish population being able to speak Arabic (a plan for which I am pleased to see has been brought before the Knesset)? When it comes to all these possibilities, we should have started yesterday,” he added.
With regards to eastern Jerusalem, Rivlin called on Israel not to neglect it.
“Does anyone think that dealing with the sewage, roads, schools and medical centers of eastern Jerusalem can or should wait until the end of the conflict? Is there anyone who thinks the consequences of these economic disparities in the city will stop at genuine or fictitious political borders? At concrete walls or fences? Or as a result of this or that agreement on sovereignty?” he wrote.
At the same time, added the Israeli President, confidence cannot be built unilaterally.
“It is clear that the Palestinians must end the incitement and violence against Israel. They must end the rejection of the very existence of Israel. To Palestinian youths I say: For too many years, blood has been shed like water on this land. No blood is redder than any other. Lives matter. Our lives matter. Your lives matter. I urge Palestinian parents and teachers to foster in their young dreams of life, not aspirations of death. The struggle between our peoples has already seen so much death and bloodshed — more death and bloodshed is not going to solve it,” he wrote.
During their meeting on Wednesday, Obama and Rivlin are expected to discuss security cooperation between the United States and Israel, as well as regional developments, efforts to combat extremism as well as advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Earlier this week, Secretary of State John Kerry lashed out at Israel at the Saban Forum, warning that current trends in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are leading to a “one-state solution” and warning that if that were to happen, Israel would risk no longer being a Jewish and democratic state.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu later addressed the Saban Forum in a video call and responded to Kerry’s accusations, noting that in order to make peace, one needs a partner, and that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas has not been one.
“The only workable solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said Netanyahu, “is not a unitary state, but a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.”
He added that “the root cause of the conflict with the Palestinians is their refusal to recognize the Jewish state,” and that while “settlements and territory are an issue to be resolved… they are not the core of the conflict.”
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