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PM Netanyahu: Israel willing to cede parts of Israel for true peace

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Knesset plenum yesterday and said that Israel would be prepared to “cede parts of our homeland” for true peace with the Palestinians.  Speaking to the Knesset a day after the Palestinian Nakba protests, Netanyahu said Israel must not blame itself for the conflict and said that the root of the conflict was the Palestinian opposition to the creation of the State of Israel. “The Palestinians call this a day of catastrophe, but their catastrophe is that their leadership has not succeeded in reaching a compromise. Still today, they don’t have a leadership that is ready to recognise Israel as a Jewish state,” Netanyahu said. The prime minister said that a Palestinian state must be created through a peace agreement with Israel. In reference to the Palestinian unity deal between Hamas and Fatah, Netanyahu said that Israel cannot make peace with an entity that refuses to recognise the state and is determined to destroy it.

 

Netanyahu also laid out a foreign policy that he said he believed most Israelis would support. The policy would demand: the Palestinians recognise Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people; a commitment to end the conflict; a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem not requiring the absorption of Palestinians within Israel’s borders; a Palestinian state in accordance with a peace agreement ensuring Israel’s security; preserving large settlement blocs in the West Bank; and Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.

 

Netanyahu used the opportunity to address the Knesset with the developments and policy ideas ahead of his anticipated visit to Washington, where he will meet with US President Barack Obama on Friday. Ahead of this meeting, President Obama is to give a speech on Thursday in which he expected to rule out the notion of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, while calling on Israelis and Palestinians to return to the negotiating table to achieve a bilateral agreement. He is also expected to call on Israel to not take any steps which could be perceived as unilateral or change the situation on the ground. Additionally, he is expected to say that the US considers Jerusalem to be the capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state. Although details of the speech, including a draft and comments from insiders, are emerging, it is still possible the content of the actual speech may differ.

The following Tuesday, Netanyahu is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress, where he plans to lay out a new approach to the peace process.