(From the archives) Background: Rabin's Forgotten Program - No Palestinian State, No Settlement Freeze, Gush Katif as Model, Israeli control of border

Background: Rabin's Forgotten Program - No Palestinian State, No Settlement Freeze, Gush Katif as Model, Israeli control of borders

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA, 1 November 2006: Once again the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided not to include the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's last major policy address among the material it provided in a special distribution to mark the anniversary of his assasination.]

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin: Ratification of the Israel-Palestinian Interim Agreement
The Knesset
October 5, 1995

* No Palestinian State: "We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority."

* No return to '67 borders: "The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines."

* Control of Jordan Valley: "The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term."

* Gush Katif as model: "The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif."

* All settlements remain intact during interim period: "I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth."

* (During interim period) "The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in
our hands."

"...And these are the main changes, not all of them, which we envision and want in the permanent solution:

A. First and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev -- as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty, while preserving the rights of the members of the other faiths, Christianity and Islam, to freedom of access and freedom of worship in their holy places, according to the customs of their faiths.

B. The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.

C. Changes which will include the addition of Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and other communities, most of which are in the area east of what was the "Green Line," prior to the Six Day War.

D. The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif..."