U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), the House Majority Leader, said while leading a trip of 28 congressmen to Israel that he doesn’t envision progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until there is a Palestinian “cultural mind-shift.”
“Until that point comes, I don’t think that there will be much progress,” Cantor said at a press conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the Jerusalem Post reported.
In the midst of renewed Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, the Facebook page of the Presidential Guard of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas recently featured a photo illustration with the PA flag superimposed on the Western Wall, Palestinian Media Watch reported. Additionally, Palestinian Authority TV (PA TV) recently offered $100 prizes in man-on-the-street interviews with Palestinians who identified Israeli territory as part of “Palestine.”
Regarding Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement on Monday that the U.S. views all Israeli communities located beyond the pre-1967 lines as “illegitimate,” Cantor said the “discussion of territory, lines, towns and settlements is predicated upon the Palestinians first agreeing” to Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
Cantor also criticized celebrations held by the PA for the first 26 terrorists released this week in the first phase of Israel’s prisoner release for Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations.
“If there is a celebration of violence, reverence pointed toward terrorists, that is not something that can fit squarely with the notion of a lasting peace,” Cantor said.