Jerusalem - For the first time, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday referred to a 'two-state solution' in
reference to efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.
'We have achieved a national agreement on the formula of two
states for two peoples,' said the prime minister during the weekly
cabinet meeting of the Israeli government.
Only last month, in a public speech, Netanyahu allowed the
possibility of a demilitarized Palestinian state without mentioning a
'two-state solution.' Such a solution would form an independent
Palestinian state from areas including those under Israeli
occupation.
Netanyahu's comments came as part of a review of his first 100
days in office, with that mark set to be reached on Thursday. He said
he did not have a single day of regret about his time in office so
far.
But, even as he allowed the possibility of a two-state solution,
he continued his demands for concessions from the Palestinians, who
control the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
'The Palestinians have to recognize the state of Israel as the
state of the Jewish people,' he said. 'Israel needs and will get
defendable borders and that implies also the complete
demilitarization of the Palestinian territories.'
Additionally, he repeated his opposition to the right of
Palestinian refugees who fled Israel during past conflicts to return
to Israel.
Such conditions, which met with opposition when he first aired
them last month, were met with resistance anew on Sunday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Netanyahu's
definition of a two-state solution, noting that it depends upon some
Israeli settlements remaining upon Palestinian territory with the
right to pursue 'natural growth.'
The Palestinian authority 'would never accept the presence of
Jewish settlements on any inch of the Palestinian territories once a
permanent peace solution is reached,' he told reporters.
'Jewish settlement has no legitimacy at all. On every inch of our
land it must be removed.'
Israeli Information Minister Juli Edelstein told the Haaretz
newspaper on Sunday that Netanyahu had told the cabinet that he did
not feel obliged to stop settlement growth in Palestinian areas,
despite pressure from the United States.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is set to meet with George
Mitchell, US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, on Monday to
continue talks on the question of Israeli settlements and Middle East
peace.
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