Steve Israel: “I think it is a critical reminder to the Palestinian Authority that they need to get their act together and that we are…”

“I think it is a critical reminder to the Palestinian Authority that they need to get their act together and that we are losing patience with them. I was at the border of Israel and Gaza when the gate fell down. The Israeli people said to the Palestinians, ``You can take this. You can have it. Try and build capability here. Try and build a country here. Try and build peace here.'' Do you know what they did with it? They sent rockets over the border into Israel. They violated every commitment they made. They didn't develop a capability. They developed Qassam rockets. Israel is surrounded by threat in the north with Lebanon, where Hezbollah violated the border, kidnapped Israeli soldiers, rained rockets on the north; in Gaza, which has imploded; has an existential threat from Iran, which is our threat as well. In between all those places, you have people running around with grenades strapped around their bodies blowing up themselves and everybody else they can take with them. Israel has tried to negotiate and negotiate and negotiate, and every time it has negotiated, the result has been an interlocutor that has said, we can't really keep our promises nor can we keep the peace.”