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Israeli PM accepts Palestinian state
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the creation of a Palestinian state for the first time, in a move welcomed abroad, but observers warned on Monday that the conditions he set effectively killed any chances of a peace deal.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the creation of a Palestinian state for the first time, in a move welcomed abroad, but observers warned on Monday that the conditions he set effectively killed any chances of a peace deal.
After months of pressure from the US, he broke with his right-wing Likud party’s ideology and endorsed the two-state solution, the cornerstone of international West Asia peacemaking efforts for years.
But he set a slew of conditions — Palestinian recognition of Israel as a state of the Jewish people, their state will have to be demilitarised, have no control of its air space, no ability to forge military pacts and Israel must have ironclad security guarantees.
“Then we will be ready in a future peace agreement to reach a solution where a demilitarised Palestinian state exists alongside the Jewish state,” Netanyahu said in a speech laying out peace policies of his 11-week-old government.
