Watchman Information

In 2009, Netanyahu made a speech expressing his support for a demilitarized Palestinian state. Today, he said that this position is "Simply irrelevant" saying, "In the situation created in the Middle East, any territory that will be evacuated will be taken over by radical Islam and terrorist organizations supported by Iran. Therefore, there will not be any withdrawals or concessions. The matter is simply irrelevant," he said. Meanwhile, Ron Dermer, who was Netanyahu's aide at the time of his 2009 speech and now serves as Israel's ambassador to the US, reportedly promised Quartet leader Tony Blair who represented the EU, UN, Russia and the United States as mediators in the peace process that Israel would agree to a Palestinian state based upon the 1967 borders. The comments were made sometime during Netanyahu's 2009-2013 term as prime minister and were published by Israel's Channel 10. Israel's Channel 10 claimed that Dermer promised Quartet leader Tony Blair, in writing, that Israel would cede territory that would give the Palestinians a state "identical to the areas Israel captured in 1967. According to the report, Blair was skeptical about Netanyahu's willingness to cede territory as part of a peace deal, prompting Dermer to commit in writing in a bid to quell his concerns and prove Netanyahu was serious. In response, Dermer vehemently denied the report, saying that "in complete contradiction to what is being reported, no commitment was given to any type of withdrawal at any point. According to him, the paper was an "attempt to move forward with negotiations based on the international community's principles with Israel retaining the right to disavow any article it is uncomfortable with." Israel's former chief negotiator in the peace process, Tzipi Livni called Netanyahu's response to a document claiming that he agreed in 2013 to establish a Palestinian state based upon the 1967 borders as "cowardly. She said, "When I see Netanyahu's cowardly response, I understand why the Palestinians and Americans say they ...