Press Release (Communicated by the Bureau of Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon)
Dep FM Ayalon Surprised at PA Negotiator Erekat's Rejection of a Public Debate: "The Palestinians are only able to debate unilaterally"
Today (Sunday 31st July), Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon responded to Palestinian Authority Negotiator Saeb Erekat's rejection of a public debate. Earlier, Ayalon had proposed a public debate on issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Erekat sent out an official press release calling the Deputy Foreign Minister's recent YouTube video titled The Truth About the West Bank, "a falsified account of history and international law".
"I am more than a little surprised that Erekat rejected my offer of an open and public debate, especially considering he was concerned enough about our video to release a two page official press release" Ayalon said. "Erekat is used to telling the world that Israel's policies are illegal and against international law and I offered him the chance to back up his own statements and he is proving unable or unwilling to do so."
"Like its diplomatic policies, it appears that the Palestinian Authority is only able to debate unilaterally."
The video released under two weeks ago, has already garnered a quarter of a million views worldwide and is encouraging a debate on the rarely heard Israeli position on the West Bank, settlements and international law.
"Erekat was very quick to react to the video when it was released but now his evasion speaks volumes of a Palestinian Authority political leadership which has hijacked the public debate for too long," Ayalon added. "It demonstrates that their rhetoric is just empty words and slogans and folds like a house of cards once it is tested."
The video which sparked Palestinian outrage...
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7 comments:
Why would Erekat debate this issue? It would just give credence to Israel's universally rejected position.
Im not quite sure if this government could do anymore to embaress itself .... danny ayalons offer of a debate is so childish .. i dont blame erekat for telling ayalon where he can shove his debate and corny video
Nephtuli: Israel is a universally rejected country no matter what it does, unless its losing.
Itzik: Yes, how childish to debate your enemy...so much better to let them simply kidnap our soldiers and bomb us indiscriminately.
Israel is a universally rejected country no matter what it does, unless its losing.
I am not talking about the merits (or lack thereof) of Israel's arguments about its rights to the West Bank.
Rather, the issue is: why would Erekat debate Israel's rights to the West Bank? Would Ayalon debate the Palestinians' rights to Tel Aviv? If he didn't, would he be a coward?
Why would Erekat give credence to an universally rejected position? It would be an incredibly stupid move on his part.
Arab "rights" to Tel Aviv is far from "universally rejected." And I'm sure Ayalon would debate it if asked.
Actually, Israelis would be willing to debate the Palestinians on ANYTHING.
Moshe Feiglin debated Faisel Husseini on the right for Israel to exist at all...while Husseini's position was that Israel (and Tel Aviv) have no right to exist.
The issue is that the Palestinians will never debate anything, since their rhetoric is based on lies and denying historical fact (starting with their claims that Jews have no connection to Eretz Yisrael or the Beit haMikdash, which they claim never existed...which is ALSO why they try to destroy any archeological finds while they (illegally) dig up Har HaBayit.
Jameel,
You really think Ayalon, the deputy foreign minister, would debate Israel's claims to Tel Aviv? If he did so, he would be fired on the spot and for good reason. Only an idiot would open up something like that for debate.
It's the same reason why biologists are loathe to debate intelligent design advocates: it gives their ideas credence merely by sharing the stage with them.
It's the same deal with Erekat. There is an almost universal consensus among countries, legal scholars, and courts that the Palestinians have the stronger claim to the West Bank. Why would Erekat open that issue to discussion? His failure to do so is not cowardice, but common sense.
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