Barghouthi: Netanyahu’s speech proved the absence of a peace partner in Israel

MP Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, the secretary-general of the Palestinian national initiative, said on Monday that Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu proved in his speech on Sunday that there is no peace partner in Israel and his willingness to entrench the apartheid system against the Palestinians.

MP Barghouthi added that Netanyahu practiced deception and misinformation in his speech and wanted to replace the idea of a Palestinian state with the same system of ghettoes or bantustans that used to exist in the past in South Africa.

The lawmaker underscored that Netanyahu tried to undermine the historical rights of the Palestinian people through his talk about a Jewish state, and talked about unconditional negotiations while setting the results in advance through his rejection of the return of Palestinian refugees and the freezing of settlement activities, and his declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The lawmaker questioned the value of a Palestinian state that Netanyahu talked about without its sovereignty and control over its resources, borders, airspace and waters.

He highlighted that Netanyahu would be delusional if he thought for once that the Palestinian people would renounce their right to return and the holy city of Jerusalem.

In the same context, MP Basem Al-Za’areer, a prisoner in Israeli jails, said that Netanyahu delivered a complicated speech to his people showing absolute loyalty to Zionist leaders Theodor Herzl and Ben-Gurion, affirming that this speech killed the hope of the establishment of a Palestinian state through peaceful settlement.

In a leaked statement received Monday by the PIC, MP Za’areer added that Netanyahu’s speech was a true reflection of the “deadly historical racism” of Israel and its successive governments.