Former deputy IDF chief Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yair Golan, currently a lawmaker with the Labor-Gesher-Meretz alliance, urged Israel on Tuesday to talk directly with Hamas and strike a security agreement.
Israel and the Gaza Strip-terrorist group do not hold direct negotiations, opting to use Egypt as the chief mediator between them.
"We talk to Hamas all the time," Golan said. "It's a stupid lie that we ignore them because they are terrorists. They are terrorists, but it's better to talk to them rather than fight them."
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On the Iranian front, Golan said that Israel will be facing this "problem for years. But up to now we need to acknowledge that we are quite successful."
He added that he would be in favor of "clandestine discussions" between the US and Iran.
With talks on a possible annexation of settlements in the West Bank amid Trump's Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, Golan emphasized his emphatic objection to such a move.
But the parliamentarian did say there are "positive elements in the [US Mideast] plan," stipulating its advocacy of a Palestinian state, compensation for Palestinians in the northern Negev and an Arab regional agreement.
On possible cooperation with the Joint Arab List so as to form a left-center coalition, Golan said that Benny Gantz's unwillingness to make the List a part of the government is a "huge mistake."
With less than two weeks until Israelis head to the voting booths, Golan urged the centrist leader of Blue & White to embrace the "classical Zionist stand," offering the Arabs to live in peace as "something essential to the Israeli identity."
This article was originally published by i24NEWS
