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Israeli Ambassador: Palestinians Don't Yet Recognize Jewish Right of Self-Determination

(CNN) Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday: "We were always ready to enter into negotiations with the Palestinians without pre-conditions....We support a solution based on two states for two peoples, a Jewish state of Israel living side-by-side in peace and security and mutual recognition with the Palestinian state." "It was not the Palestinian position. The Palestinians had a number of pre-conditions. They were not willing to live in a situation of mutual recognition. We recognize the Palestinians as a people endowed with the right of self-determination. They don't recognize the Jews as a people yet with the right of self-determination." "When we say 'Jewish state,' what does it mean? It means that the Jewish state is permanent and legitimate. We're not interlopers. We're not trespassers. We're not a transient state. And it also means there'll be an end of claims and end of conflict." "There are about 193 states in the world. Most of them are nation states; the Bulgarians, the Hungarians, the Germans....It's very common, certainly in Europe. And there's nothing anomalous, nothing unusual about the arrangement which we're seeking."
2013-07-30 00:00:00
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