Israeli politician: first deal with West Bank, then ceasefire with Hamas

2 Sep, 2009 07:53 / Updated 15 years ago

Israeli settlements on the West Bank are not the stumbling block in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, believes former Israeli Justice Minister and prominent left-wing politician Yossi Beilin.

“The only stumbling block is the situation when parties and their leaders are not ready to call it the moment of truth,” says Beilin, adding, “If they do – the settlements will not be a problem, the refugees would not be a problem and Jerusalem would not be a problem. The support is huge on both sides.”

“As long as Hamas refuses to negotiate there will be no peace.”

“It won’t take long before Jews became a minority on the land of their jurisdiction. If we withdraw to the 1967 borders mutatis mutandis, there would be no problem in the coming 50 years to the Jewish majority.”