ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-NETANYAHU Israeli PM wants Arab states to press Palestinians back to peace talks

Record ID: 150609

  • Title: ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-NETANYAHU Israeli PM wants Arab states to press Palestinians back to peace talks
  • Date: 9th June 2015
  • Summary: HERZLIYA, ISRAEL (JUNE 9, 2015) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU APPROACHING PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SAYING: "There might be an opening because some of the Arab states silently agree with what I say because they might be in a position to influence the Palestinians
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2ZNOW4IOXY45N6NZKU922EB9E
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday (June 9) said he hoped moderate Arab states could influence the Palestinians to return to negotiations to effect a two-state solution.
    Netanyahu, speaking to a strategic conference in Herzliya, near the central city of Tel Aviv, blamed the Palestinians for the 14-month impasse in talks but said he felt there was a chance to renew them if the Palestinians could be influenced to do so.
    "There might be an opening because some of the Arab states silently agree with what I say because they might be in a position to influence the Palestinians to adopt a more conciliatory and positive approach," he told the annual Herzliya Conference.
    Netanyahu has expressed a common vigilance between Israel and Gulf Arab states at Iran's nuclear programme which they perceive as a threat to their security. Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is purely peaceful.
    U.S.-brokered peace talks broke off in April 2014, with disputes raging over Israeli settlement building in occupied land Palestinians seek for a state and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's unity deal with Hamas Islamists who rule Gaza and do not recognise Israel's right to exist.
    In an hour-long speech covering a range of issues including Iran's nuclear ambitions and a monitoring deal with world powers to which Netanyahu is vehemently opposed, he said Palestinian efforts to force a peace deal on Israel through proposals by world powers would be counter productive.
    France recently handed a working document to Arab League countries in preparation for a U.N. Security Council resolution that would set the exact parameters of new peace talks and a time frame of 18 to 24 months to complete them.
    "The idea of imposing peace from the outside doesn't work anyway but what it guarantees is one: we'll resist it and two: the Palestinians will not come to the table because if they can get starting terms that are unacceptable to any Israeli government and from which they can press their charges even more, why should they come to negotiate. I hope that they change course," Netanyahu said.
    "The Palestinians have a nifty trick up their sleeve. They refuse to negotiate and then get international pressure, sanctions, boycotts on Israel for there not being negotiations. It's a perfect 'Catch 22,'" he added in reference to recent international calls to boycott the Jewish State.
    After discussing Iran in detail, he repeated Netanyahu commitment to a two-state solution that he made in a landmark speech in 2009, dubbed the "Bar Ilan" speech after the university it was given from. It drew initial applause to which Netanyahu said: "That's the only thing you clap for?" indicating he had hoped his Iran comments would have been met with more enthusiasm.
    Earlier, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said he did not believe a stable peace agreement could be reached with the Palestinians in his lifetime - one of the bleakest assessments from a top-level cabinet member since the talks collapsed.
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