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Defense Minister Ya'alon: "Whoever Really Wants Peace Needs to Speak about Co-existence"


(Makor Rishon-Hebrew, 20 Dec 2013) Ariel Kahane - Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon sent a message during a tour of the Jordan Valley last week: a military presence there is not enough, there have to be Israeli civilians living there as well. "My worldview is that in places where Jews don't live, there is no security....This reflects the correct security and political position regarding the Jordan Valley," Ya'alon said. According to the Defense Minister of the State of Israel, security and settlement go together as they have since the beginning of Zionism. "Whoever really wants peace needs to speak about co-existence and not about removing Jews and uprooting Jews as was done in Gaza. Today, 6,000 Palestinian workers make their living from the Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley. What could be more peaceful than that? And we saw how in Gaza the removal of the settlements harmed the livelihood of 3,700 [Palestinian] families when Gush Katif was uprooted, and the 4,500 other families who depended on work in the Erez industrial zone." "Whoever claims that if we don't get out of the West Bank we will suffer from an economic boycott, I suggest that they consider the economic, security and strategic implications of rockets from the West Bank on Ben-Gurion airport and on Tel Aviv."
2013-12-23 00:00:00
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