Kulanu candidate: Zionism created the Palestinians

A former IDF general who is set to become a Knesset member with the centrist Kulanu party said on Monday night that Zionism “created” the Palestinians.

In an address in Jerusalem, Yoav Galant, who is number 2 on Kulanu’s Knesset list, outlined his terms for a peace agreement with the Palestinians, calling for the evacuation of settlements outside the major blocs, and increased construction within the blocs.

Echoing stances expressed by the leader of his party, former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon, Galant also rejected any Palestinian right of return, as well as any concessions on Jerusalem, and insisted that any future Palestinian state must be demilitarized.

“We must recognize what Zionism has recognized from day one, that with Zionist activity, we created the Palestinian nation sitting alongside us, and they are not going anywhere,” Galant said, according to the daily Maariv.

With regard to continued Israeli presence in areas with a large Palestinian population, namely the West Bank, Galant said: “It does not make sense that we reside in densely populated Palestinian areas. In my eyes, this is a mistake.”

The retired general, once a front-running candidate for IDF chief of staff, appealed for “territorial contiguity” for the Palestinians, which will “enable them to lead their lives under an independent entity, while our construction and settlements in the large settlement blocs continues.”

Galant recently came under fire for implying that an airstrike on the Syrian Golan Heights that was attributed to Israel — six Hezbollah members and six Iranians, including a general, were killed in the attack — was ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of political expediency rather than security concerns.

Hours after the attack, Galant appeared on Channel 2 and stated: “From incidents in the past you can learn that sometimes there is timing that is not unrelated to the topic of elections.”

He was subsequently overwhelmed with denouncements and critiques from politicians across the political spectrum, and later appeared to backpedal on his remarks.