Next to Israel, not in place of it 
Uri Avnery
I am an Israeli patriot, and I do not feel that I need anybody’s recognition of the right of my state to exist. If somebody is prepared to make peace with me, within borders and on conditions agreed on in negotiations, that is quite enough for me. I am prepared to leave the history, ideology and theology of the matter to the theologians, ideologues and historians. The demand now addressed to the Palestinian Unity Government is far from sincere. It has two political aims: 1. to convince the international community not to recognise the Palestinian government that will shortly be established; and 2. to justify the refusal of the Israeli government to enter into peace negotiations with it.
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Uri Avnery is a former member of the Knesset and a leader of Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc.
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