Netanyahu bows on Palestinian state - Israeli PM imposes strict conditions

Netanyahu bows on Palestinian state - Israeli PM imposes strict conditions
By Tobias Buck in Jerusalem
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: June 14 2009 21:41 | Last updated: June 15 2009 00:19
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/290cd2ca-5921-11de-80b3-00144feabdc0.html


Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, on Sunday gave conditional backing to the goal of creating an independent Palestinian state, but insisted such an entity would have to be subject to tough limitations on its sovereignty.

A Palestinian state, he said, would have to be demilitarised and barred from acquiring weapons and signing treaties with nations hostile to Israel. Mr Netanyahu also insisted that Jerusalem would remain the “united” capital of Israel, and rejected Palestinian claims to occupied Arab East Jerusalem, which they see as the capital of their future state.

Israel’s demands, he said, would have to be guaranteed by the international community, including the US, for any peace process to succeed. “If we receive this guarantee for demilitarisation and the security arrangements required by Israel, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as the nation of the Jewish people, we will be prepared for a true peace agreement to reach a solution of a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state,” Mr Netanyahu said.

A public endorsement of the two-state solution marks a significant shift – one the prime minister was reluctant to make in the face of opposition from many of his coalition allies.

The White House said last night that Barack Obama, US president, welcomed “the important step forward in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech”. But it was unclear whether the speech went far enough to ease US tensions and pave the way for renewed negotiations with the Palestinians.

One key US demand left explicitly unanswered by Mr Netanyahu was the call to stop the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The settlers, he said, were “not the enemies of peace” but “our brothers and sisters”. He saw no reason to stop construction in the settlements which was needed to accommodate the growing population.

Palestinian leaders have warned repeatedly that they will not restart peace talks with Israel without a complete freeze on settlement growth. They have also consistently rejected demands to recognise Israel as a “Jewish state” – a move Palestinians say would preclude the question of how to deal with the millions of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 war.

Mr Netanyahu will hope his remarks do not jeopardise his broad but fractious government alliance.