Minister: Palestinians a ‘recent invention’

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin asserts that there is no occupation in the West Bank, because a people cannot be an occupier “in its own land.”

Addressing the Haaretz Conference on Peace in Tel Aviv, Levin calls the Palestinian people a “recent invention,” and says the Jewish people have been residing in the Land of Israel “long before Islam” came on the scene.

Addressing the “left and the UN,” he adds: “Your way has failed. Your position is wrong. You’ve strengthened the extremists. You’ve distanced peace.”

Levin says Palestinians discriminate against women and LGBT people, and glorify killers. The crowd boos.

“A society that doesn’t know how to accept the other within their own society — how do you think they’re going to accept us?”

Despite the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week publicly endorsed a two-state solution to the conflict, Levin asserts that there will be no Palestinian state.

“Two states for two nations — I don’t want to get into the discussion about whether there are two nations here but we all know there won’t be two states,” he says.

Instead, Levin urges a regional effort: “The way to peace is not from the inside out, but from the outside in.”

He claims that the “peace industry” should set aside the Palestinian issue and instead invest its money in ties between Israel and the Arab world.

The crowd boos him again.

— Marissa Newman contributed