Netanyahu: We don’t want to incorporate 2 m Palestinians in Israel

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was warmly welcomed on arrival in Australia Wednesday by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who delivered a blistering attack on the UN for its “one-sided resolutions” against Israel.  At the start of a four-day visit, the first by a sitting Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu said he did not want to incorporate two million Palestinians as citizens of Israel, nor did he want them to be the subject of Israel. 'Let them govern themselves, but not have the military and physical power to threaten the state of Israel.'

He said the settlements issue was 'way overblown'. The core of the conflict is the Palestinians’ refusal to recognize a Jewish state.
Turnbull stressed Australia’s support for a two-state solution, but wrote in an editorial in The Australian that his government “will not support one-sided resolutions criticizing Israel of the kind recently adopted by the UN Security Council and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to delegitimize the Jewish state."

Netanyahu will also meet Labor leader Bill Shorten, who reaffirmed his support for a two-state solution. Two other Labor leaders, including ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and former foreign ministers Bob Carr and Gareth Evans, have recently called for a change in ALP foreign policy to recognize a state of Palestine.

Netanyahu invited his Australian host to visit Israel in late October to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Beersheba, in which Australia's 4th Light Horse Brigade led the famous mounted charge in the significant battle which brought 400 years of Ottoman rule to an end.

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