Israel should cease its efforts to prevent a possible United Nations General Assembly resolution in September recognizing a Palestinian state, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan has said.
"Israel will be mistaken to attempt to block 'the September move' and the UN's expected recognition of a Palestinian state," local daily Ma'ariv on Thursday quoted Dagan as saying during a closed forum at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.
Dagan, who stepped down as director of Israel's foreign intelligence agency earlier this year, told private-sector CEOs who on Wednesday attended the forum that the UN recognition is inevitable.
"Israel's attempts to derail the Palestinian move will ultimately lead to its forceful imposition on Palestinian terms, not ours," Dagan reportedly warned, adding that an Israeli acceptance of Palestine could "minimize damages."
Dagan's position challenges that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who firmly rejects the Palestinian National Authority's bid to unilaterally declare statehood.
"Peace can be achieved only around the negotiating table. The Palestinian attempt to impose a settlement through the United Nations will not bring peace," Netanyahu said during his speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, in which he laid out his vision of a future peace deal.
Meanwhile, sources close to the Prime Minister's Bureau said on Wednesday that one aspect of Netanyahu's Congressional address -- the expressed possibility that some West Bank settlements will remain outside Israel's borders after a peace deal is signed -- may had been missed.
"We debated at length over the words to use in the speech regarding this matter, but the general feeling is that the message wasn't adequately heard where we wanted it to be heard -- in Washington and European capitals," sources close to Netanyahu told Ma'ariv.
The sources said that the failure to accentuate Netanyahu's willingness to cede sovereignty over some mainly isolated settlements may make it hard for the U.S. administration to use it as a means to convince leading countries not to support Palestinian unilateral statehood move
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