(Haaretz,Jpost).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked on the four-year anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. At the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that "According to the Hebrew calendar, today is the day Israel uprooted approximately 10,000 Israelis - men, women and children - from their homes,To our regret, Gaza has become a base for Hamas-led, Iran-sponsored terrorism. Thousands of rockets and missiles have been fired at us.""I want to stress the fact that we are committed to the full rehabilitation of those uprooted, and the cabinet will discuss the matter next week," Netanyahu added.
"We will not put up with rocket fire [from Gaza] into our communities. We will decisively respond to every attack," the prime minister went on to declare. "Peace will once again be based on reciprocation."
"Israel expects the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, it expects that the refugee issue be resolved outside of Israel and the implementation of effective security solutions with international guarantees - all these are conditions for the advancement of a sustainable and stable peace agreement," Netanyahu explained.
The prime minister said furthermore that Israel was ready to relaunch peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, with Syria and with any other Arab nation with no preconditions.
"Anyone who insists on preconditions is standing in the way of peace talks," he said.
On the day Hebron's Zion Route was opened to Palestinian vehicles, the prime minister said Israel would continue to advance economic peace with the Palestinian Authority by dismantling barriers to traffic, business and tourism.
"Whoever is with us in peace will prosper," he said. "I believe that these things have already been recognized during the few months this government [has been in office]."
"Whoever is with us in peace will prosper," he said. "I believe that these things have already been recognized during the few months this government [has been in office]."
