Gillerman Calls for 23 State Solution
Israel’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, has called for a 23 State solution to the Middle East problem.
NSWJBD CEO Vic Alhadeff listens to Ambassador Dan Gellerman
Citing Iran and Pakistan as the two most feared countries in the region, Gillerman told a media conference in Sydney this morning that the moderate Muslim world had a role to play in the emerging global fear of Iranian extremism. He expressed hope that Israel would make peace with the entire Arab world. He told the conference “I am an optimist.”
He responded to questions on the civilian casualties in Gaza by telling the journalists that on a comparative basis civilian casualties were lower than those in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Delicately handling questions about Israel’s refusal to allow journalists into Gaza during the recent conflict, Gillerman told the meeting that he believed that the Palestinian people were clever, industrious and that basic economic help would play an important part in the region’s future. But he lashed out at the Palestinian diaspora, pointing our to the journalists that whereas the Jewish diaspora had played an integral role in the development of the nation, the Palestinan disapora remains mostly silent and non-contributive. He spoke of the Arab world investing in such entities as Citibank and Manchester City but being scant in the their support of the Palestinians.
Time and time again, he referred to the main threat in the region, if not the world, as being Iran. He said that North Korea was developing nuclear warheads from desperation but “Iran is developing them from aspiration.”
Ambassador Gillerman served Israel in the UN between 2003 and 2008, becoming vice-President of the General Assembly in 2005, the first Israeli to hold this position since Abba Eban in 1952.
