PALESTINIAN FM CRITICIZES ISRAEL’S RELUCTANCE FOR PEACE

Munich, 19 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/9 February 2015 (MINA) – The Palestinian Foreign Minister Dr. Riyad Al-Malki has criticized Israel on Sunday for putting forward new excuses for its reluctance to make progress in the peace process.

“One cannot blame the Iranian nuclear question, ISIL and jihadist movements on the lack of progress in achieving peace between Israel and Palestine. Since we have started the negotiations with Israel 23 years ago, until last year, there was no Iranian nuclear threat, there was not Daesh (ISIL) and jihadist movements,” Malki said at the Munich Security Conference in the German city of Munich.

The Palestinian foreign minister criticized Israeli minister of intelligence Yuval Steinitz, who during a panel discussion at the conference blamed Iranian nuclear program, ISIL threat and the jihadist movements for the deterioration of the situation in the Middle East and stalemate in the peace process, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Malki has sharply criticized Steinitz in a heated debate on the last day of the conference.

“I believe that Israelis are happy today to use it as an excuse to continue working against the possibility of ending their occupation of the Palestinian territory and allowing the establishment of the independent Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel,” he said.

Israeli minister of intelligence Yuval Steinitz argued that the main reason for the conflicts in the region was not the controversial policies of Israel, but the undemocratic nature of the Arab states.

“If the countries around us would become Western style of liberal democracies you will see much less conflicts, and much more cooperation between the Jewish state and the Arab states and between Arabs states and themselves,” he said.

Steinitz argued that stability in the Middle East can only be achieved with true democracies.

“One of the necessary conditions for democracy is not just free elections, but democracy with real freedom of speech, and real respect to the right of minorities of women and homosexuals. And this unfortunately does not exist in the wider Middle East,” he said.

He claimed that the Israelis are concerned about the possible concessions as part of a possible peace agreement, as they had negative experiences, particularly due to the rockets fired from Gaza.

“Unfortunately Arabs in the Middle East, and Arab countries are not getting real peace and real security among themselves,” he said.

The internationally-renowned Munich Security Conference, which witnessed a record participation this year, ended on Sunday with the panel discussion on the Middle East.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius were among the key participants of the conference. (T/P001/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)