The following statement is the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s official reaction to the Palestine National Council’s declaration of an independent state:
“Once again, the organization that claims to represent the Palestinian people proves unable or unwilling to recognize reality.
“In its new statement, ambiguity and double talk are again employed to obscure its advocacy of violence and that it resorts to terrorism and adheres to extreme positions.
“Hence, any recognition or legitimization of the declarations will not be conducive to peace in the Middle East.
“No unilateral step can substitute for a negotiated settlement, no gimmick can mask the tragedy inflicted upon the Palestinian people time and again by the absence of reasonable, realistic and peace-seeking leadership.
“As it continues to shoulder its responsibility for tranquility in the territories, Israel remains committed to the pursuit of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace with all its neighbors, first and foremost Jordan and the Palestinians.
“Israel’s policy remains equally firm in its adherence to an insistence upon U.N. Resolutions 242 and 388 as the only commonly accepted basis for peace negotiations.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
