In an interview with British network Sky News, Prime Minister Netanyahu appeared to scold the anchor after he was grilled on construction in Judea and Samaria,saying, “it’s our ancestral homeland and country.”
“The figures show that 7000 housing units were advanced by your government;” the interviewer stated. “Secretary of State Blinken has stated that it is these physical settlements that are the obstacle to peace, and they contravene international law.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu replied: “I think that’s not true at all, and I also don’t think they contravene international law, because there’s never been an international decision that Jews cannot live in Judea, that’s where we come from.”
“Article 49 of the Geneva convention states that the occupying power cannot build on the land,” said the interviewer.
“The article forbids population transfer. Building is only forbidden in occupied territory; you call it occupied, we call it disputed, but it’s part of our ancestral homeland. We’ve only been there for some 3000 years. King David established our capital in Jerusalem. We are not the Belgians in the Congo or the Dutch in Indonesia. For God’s sake, it’s the land of Israel, it’s our country.”
“The Palestinians are here, and we’re not going to push them out, and we’re here, and the Palestinians are not going to push us out. The problem, though has been that the Palestinians have been hijacked by leadership that does not want a state next to Israel, they want a state without Israel.”
“The idea that if a Jew buys land privately it is a criminal act is absurd. If I were to tell you that Jews cannot buy land anywhere else in the world you would be outraged.”
“A million Arabs live in israel, and I say that they should have all the same civil rights as Jews. We are going to have to find the political arrangement to do so, but we are going to have to live next to each other. The idea that their land must be Judenrein, Jew-free – I think that conception is the obstacle to peace.”
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