Palestinians dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion that Judea and Samaria settlers should be able to remain in their homes even if they fall within a possible future Palestinian state, Israel Hayom reports.
On Sunday, a Prime Minister's Office official was quoted as saying that Netanyahu believes all settlers should have the right to remain in their homes in a future Palestinian state.
"The prime minister believes that in peace, just as Israel has an Arab minority, there is no logical reason why the Palestinian state could not contain a Jewish minority and that Jews living in Judea and Samaria would be given the option to stay," the official said. "It should not be accepted a priori that in peace the Palestinian state must be ethnically cleansed." [...]
High-ranking officials in the Palestinian Authority outright rejected the idea. "Anyone who says he wants to keep settlers in the Palestinian state is actually saying that he doesn't want a Palestinian state," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday.
"No settler will be allowed to stay in the Palestinian state, not even a single one, because settlements are illegal and the presence of the settlers on the occupied lands is illegal."