Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), MK Ofir Akunis (Likud), said at week’s end that “an Israeli government that presents a diplomatic accord that is based on a return to [pre-]1967 borders and uprooting of communities will not survive politically and will lose in a plebiscite as well.”

MK Ofir Akunis, Likud – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem

Akunis also made clear that Israel is placing the blame on the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its head, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), for the recent spike in terror acts by Arabs against Jews.

“The Palestinians torpedo every attempt to reach a settlement and the spike in terror acts in the last month is the direct responsibility of the PA and the person heading it,” he stated.

“They maintain a network of systematic incitement against Israel,” Akunis explained. “Abu Mazen’s statements about a Palestinian state ‘clean of Jews’ and his statements that its borders will be from Rosh Hanikra in the north to Eilat in the south encourage violence and a surge in terror acts against Israelis.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented in August on Abbas’ statement regarding “Rosh Hanikra to Eilat borders.”

“Incitement and peace do not go together,” wrote Netanyahu at the time. “Instead of educating the next generation of Palestinians to live in peace with Israel, the education to terror poisons them against Israel and lays the groundwork for continued violence and terror.”

Akunis’s statement regarding the PA’s responsibility for the recent terror acts can probably be seen as one that reflects the current thinking in the PMO. Together with Netanyahu’s recent speech linking the Palestinians’ past leaders with the Nazi regime, it indicates a growing Israeli frustration with the PA, even as negotiations with it are ongoing.

Coalition Chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud) warned this week that “if a leader in Likud tries to cede parts of the homeland or hurt Judea and Samaria, then the final result will be that the Likud will remain, and will remain strong as it was in Sharon’s day, and this person will not be a part of Likud.”

This was a thinly veiled warning to Netanyahu, that any attempts to ceded too much to the PA in the secret talks being held with it will be forcefully rejected by Likud.

View original Arutz Sheva publication at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/172985#.UmLJ3hCPlgg