Quotessence
Home / Authors / Gershon Baskin

Gershon Baskin Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

Famous Gershon Baskin Quotes

“The primary lesson in the failure of the peace process and the violence of the second intifada is that there is very little reason for each side to trust the other. In peacemaking, that is not always a bad thing. It requires us to be a lot more careful. It forces us to plan for failure. And it should teach us to make much more intelligent agreements. Agreements that are based on a lack of trust or, even worse, on mistrust, can push us to ensure that we are more careful in taking risks and that we build in more mechanisms for dealing with breaches and breakdowns.”

“Even for those who call the territory "the West Bank," and not "Judea and Samaria," there must be a recognition of the importance of that area to the Jewish people and to Jewish history. The land of the prophets of the Old Testament is there in the hilltops and valleys of Judea and Samaria, not on the beaches of Tel Aviv. I cannot that the one place in the world where Jews would not be allowed to live, by agreement, is Judea and Samaria in the State of Palestine.”

“There must also be an option and real possibility for settlers to remain where they are and to become permanent residents or citizens of the State of Palestine. If they are willing to become citizens of Palestine, to recognize Palestinian sovereignty and Palestinian laws, and not to be armed militias, the State of Palestine should be willing to accept them.”

“Yes, in the short term, walls and fences can support the development of a security regime that will limit the damaging and deadly impact of terrorism against peace. But, ultimately, security cannot be secured by means of block peoples' movement; it can only be achieved in the long run by changing the consciousness of people and their desire to live in peace.”