"I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state. I had a deal they turned down that would have given them all of Gaza, between 96 and 97% of the West Bank, compensating land in Israel—you name it."

--President Bill Clinton, speaking in New Jersey on May 14, 2016.

A Short History of Palestinian Rejectionism

Hamas and Fatah Reject the Two-State Solution

"Our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state."
--Ambassador Ron Prosor's speech to the UN, Nov. 26, 2014

A two-state solution requires mutual understanding and mutual respect.

Israel offered 97 percent of the disputed territories to the Palestinians and the recognition of a Palestinian state in return for two common sense conditions:
recognition of the Jewish state and Israel's right to exist.

The Palestinians have refused--year after year.

The Position of Hamas


Hamas foreign minister reiterates Hamas' rejection of two-state solution and commitment to gaining 'Palestine in its entirety' by force.

Hamas' foreign minister, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, recently conducted a television interview in which he once more set out Hamas' rejection of Israel's right to exist. According to Memri, Al-Zahar used the interview, from 21 July, to argue that 'Palestine in its entirety is Islamic waqf land, which cannot be relinquished':


'At this moment in time, we say to you, first of all: We want Palestine in its entirety - so there will not be any misunderstandings. If our generation is unable to achieve this, the next one will, and we are raising our children on this. Palestine means Palestine in its entirety, and Israel cannot exist in our midst.'


Al-Zahar also declared that Hamas would view any Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, or a compromise agreement with the Palestinian Authority, as only a 'first stage' towards the destruction of Israel in its entirety. He asserted that this was the key difference between Hamas and their secular rivals, Fatah.

 
The Position of the Palestinian Authority

 Nabil Shaath, Palestinian Authority’s Head of Foreign Relations, was interviewed on Lebanese ABN television and aired on July 11, 2011 . Here are his very words:    

[The new French UN peace initiative has] reshaped the issue of the “Jewish state” into a formula that is also unacceptable to us – two states for two peoples.   They can describe Israel itself as a state for two peoples, but we will be a state for one people.  

The story of “two states for two peoples” means that there will be a Jewish people over there and a Palestinian people here.

We will never accept this – not as part of the French initiative and not as part of the American initiative.  

We will not sacrifice the 1.5 million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who live within the 1948 borders, and we will never agree to a clause preventing the Palestinian refugees from returning to their country. We will not accept this, whether the initiative is French, American, or Czechoslovakian.  

The recognition of a [Palestinian] state is basically a bilateral action, which receives the blessing of the UN. This act, however, will make many things possible in the future.

Eventually, we will be able to sign bilateral agreements with states and this will enable us to exert pressure on Israel. At the end of the day, we want to exert pressure on Israel in order to force it to recognize us and to leave our country.

This is our long-term goal.
(translation - MEMRI)

Palestinian Media Watch has reported extensively on PA - Fatah denial of Israel's right to exist. PA leaders and official PA media refer to all of Israel as "occupied," including cities like Haifa and Jaffa and places like the Galilee and the Negev.

To view recent PMW bulletins on PA denial of Israel's right to exist, click here and here.

In contrast, even President Al-Sisi of Egypt has told the Palestinians that they must co-exist with Israel.