‘And when, in September 2001, he became the first Likud prime minister to say that Israel “wants to give the Palestinians what no one else ever has: the opportunity to establish a state of their own,” he did so, not by coincidence, at Latrun.’
When I read this I have to wonder if the guy just lost his marbles by a certain age. Why would he want to let blood-thirsty, death-worshiping savages/barbarians have their own country within Israel??? That’s just suicidal!
Simple reason. Because it undercut their claim to land where Jews lived, and wanted to keep. And because he knew the Arabs would make a hash of it, further undercutting their legitimacy. Gaza has proven his point.
Its far less dangerous to have them as bad but feckless neighboring states than as murderous enemies within the state.
I suspect it was all about simple math. They all realized that the military and financial commitment to protect 6,000-7,000 Israeli settlers living among 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza was absurd.