"There is no independent Palestinian state without the Jordan Valley," re-appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday, after comments by his Israeli counterpart that the area would remain under occupation in any peace deal.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had toured the Jordan Valley, telling reporters that "the IDF [Israeli army] must remain deployed on the border as part of any agreement. This is Israel's security border."
On his own tour, Fayyad spoke from the hospital in the northern West Bank village of Qusra, where the day before residents had come under fire from a violent group of settlers found vandalizing local property. When villagers attempted to drive the settlers away, the group drew their automatic weapons and injured 13.
"The Jordan Valley is as integral to Palestine as is Jerusalem," Fayyad said, pledging to continue work to ensure a viable Palestinian state which includes all lands occupied by Israel in 1967.
Palestine has been attacked from all sides, Fayyad said, citing threats to Jerusalem, home demolitions in Palestinian villages, warnings that the Jordan Valley would be kept under Israeli military control, and the settler attacks on farmers.
"The government of Israel is fully responsible for the terrorist attack perpetrated against the people of this village," he told Qusra residents, adding, "the international community must realize that it is Israel that has given settlers the license to be violent."
Front Page Features