“Although Labor and the Likud differ in their views on the solution to the Palestinian question, we both oppose in the strongest terms the creation of a Palestinian “mini-state” in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, first and foremost because it cannot solve anything. It certainly will not be able to absorb the almost million and a half Palestinians who currently reside beyond these two areas; and just as surely it will be ruled by the most extreme faction in the Palestinian political spectrum – the PLO. Such “internal” Palestinian politics might not be any of Israel’s business were it not for the fact that the leaders of the PLO have declared – and I believe them – that they view such a “mini-state” as but the first phase in the achievement of their so-called secular, democratic Palestine, to be built on the ruins of the State of Israel once all the Jews who arrived after 1917 (or, with slight modification, after 1948) have been expelled. Given that scenario, there is little wonder that the overwhelming majority of Israelis are so strongly opposed to this “option.” And though attitudes have changed before and may very well change again in the next few years, I doubt that my countrymen are likely to mellow toward the prospect of their own destruction.”
– Yitzhak Rabin, The Rabin Memoirs 1979, page 334
