Sanders Says Positive U.S.-Israel Ties Contingent on Improving Relations With Palestinians

In recently released transcript, Sanders says he would demand Israel halt settlement construction, adding that if Israel 'want us to have a positive relationship, they're going to have to improve their relationship with the Palestinians.'

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addressed in length his policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during an editorial board meeting with the New York Daily News last Thursday, the transcript of which was published on Monday.

During the meeting, Sanders said that if Israel wanted "positive" ties with the U.S. then the government was "going to have to improve their relationship with the Palestinians."

Sanders aslo explained his position to demand from the Israeli government halt construction in West Bank settlements, and maybe even withdraw from them before a peace settlement is reached. ”If the expansion was illegal, moving into territory that was not their territory, I think withdrawal from those territories is appropriate,” he said.

“I lived in Israel. I have family in Israel. I believe 100% not only in Israel’s right to exist, a right to exist in peace and security without having to face terrorist attacks,” the Jewish senator from Vermont explained. “But from the United States’ point of view, I think, long-term, we cannot ignore the reality that you have large numbers of Palestinians who are suffering now, poverty rate off the charts, unemployment off the charts, Gaza remaining a destroyed area. And I think that for long-term peace in that region, Israel cannot just simply expand when it wants to expand with new settlements.”

But Sanders refused to go into further details as to what the U.S. administration would demand from Israel – if he’s elected as president – as a baseline to restart peace negotiations. "There’s going to be a lot of things on the baselines,” he stated. “There are going to be demands being made of the Palestinian folks as well,” including “the absolute condemnation of all terrorist attacks.”

Sanders also repeated what he called was an overreaction by Israel in its response to Hamas' launching hundreds of rockets into Israel during the Gaza war in the summer of 2014.

”I think most international observers would say that the attacks against Gaza were indiscriminate and that a lot of innocent people were killed who should not have been killed,” he asserted. “My understanding is that a whole lot of apartment houses were leveled. Hospitals, I think, were bombed. So yeah, I do believe and I don’t think I’m alone in believing that Israel’s force was more indiscriminate than it should have been.”

Nevertheless, Sanders expressed his opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s attempt to file charges against Israel for alleged war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

He also maintained that his position remains that peace will also require Palestinian recognition of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

The Democratic presidential hopeful has recently received the backing of several pro-Palestinian groups and activists critical of Israel. On Monday, Sanders was introduced by Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist, who came under fire for denouncing critics on Twitter as “Zionist trolls,” at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin. “When I started supporting Bernie Sanders, nobody told me, ‘Look, you can’t be too Muslim up there. Don’t bring up those Palestinians.’ They welcomed all of me,” Sarsour told the crowd.

Sanders also declined an invitation to address AIPAC’s annual policy conference in Washington, D.C., last month.

Read the full text of Sanders discussing his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict below:

Daily News: Good, thank you. So I want to focus you on some international issues, starting with Israel. While speaking forcefully of Israel’s need for security, you said that peace will require an end to attacks of all kinds and recognition of Israel’s right to exist. Just to be clear, does that mean recognition of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state?

Sanders: Of course…that’s the status quo.

Daily News: Okay. You’ve called not just for a halting construction of so-called settlements on the West Bank, but you’ve also called for pulling back settlements, just as Israel did in Gaza. Describe the pullback that you have in mind.

Sanders: Well, that’s the Israeli government’s plan, but I think that right now…I’m not going to run the Israeli government. I’ve got enough problems trying to be a United States senator or maybe President of the United States.

Daily News: No, but if you are President, you will, I assume, become deeply enmeshed in attempting the peace process.

Sanders: I assume that’s something…

Daily News: And where you start on the negotiations is important.

Sanders: Here’s the main point that I want to make. I lived in Israel. I have family in Israel. I believe 100% not only in Israel’s right to exist, a right to exist in peace and security without having to face terrorist attacks. But from the United States’ point of view, I think, long-term, we cannot ignore the reality that you have large numbers of Palestinians who are suffering now, poverty rate off the charts, unemployment off the charts, Gaza remaining a destroyed area. And I think that for long-term peace in that region, and God knows nobody has been successful in that for 60 years, but there are good people on both sides, and Israel is not, cannot, just simply expand when it wants to expand with new settlements. So I think the United States has got to help work with the Palestinian people as well. I think that is the path toward peace.

Daily News: I was talking about something different, though. Expanding settlements is one thing; coming into office as a President who said as a baseline that you want Israel to pull back settlements, that changes the dynamic in the negotiations, and I’m wondering how far and what you want Israel to do in terms of pulling back.

Sanders: Well, again, you’re asking me a very fair question, and if I had some paper in front of me, I would give you a better answer. But I think if the expansion was illegal, moving into territory that was not their territory, I think withdrawal from those territories is appropriate.



read more: http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.712778


Go Bern.

Now of course Israel are calling him a 'self-hating Jew' lol

Would be great to see him get the nomination.  The Panama Papers will work to his advantage, many think that Hillary probably uses off shore sites etc.

I read a little about him the other day. Perhaps it's me, but he seems to get less coverage than the other two?

Anyway, from what I read, he seems like the kind of guy who'll be good at the job, but perhaps hasn't got that "X factor" that the USA likes so much??

Don't know. I'll watch a few more YouTube clips of him.

Got any good ones you can recommend?
Sounds like a film lol

Here's one...

And another...

Thanks Irn

Another from a couple of days ago, his voice is going a bit!

Hmmm that's what I mean sassy. Does he "look" like the leader of a country? And I'm not talking physical appearance or age....I mean, does he have that "thang"?

Yep, he sure as hell does, he's inspiring.

sassy wrote:Yep, he sure as hell does, he's inspiring.

Okay going to watch your clip now.

Actually I won't. It's an hour long

He is just shrewd and all are talking up to win as many voters as possible.

He did make a big gaff in this speech on numbers mind and his understanding of the rules of war is also poor to say the least, but he is bound to try and win people across the board.

He will keep up the good relationship with Israel and if he helps bring about peace between the two, then good luck to him, but it is a two way street and I doubt he will have any success whilst Hamas retain power in Gaza.

I find it hilarious that his opponents are trying to paint a Jew as being anti-Israel. He would be fair and that is what the region needs.

Eds, he does get less coverage, because the media are scared lf change. CNN in particular, they are one of Clinton's biggest doners, not that they ever tell us that. And Trump gets headlines for every stupid thing he says or does.

The internet is the place for finding out things thesedays, The Young Turks news channel is the biggest online, with double the subscribers of the next latgest (CNN). They provide a valuable alternative to the establishment.

The internet generations are behind Sander's rise and if he doesn't win this election then it is only a matter of time before a similar candidate does