Netanyahu mentions two-state solution for first time (Roundup)

Jul 5, 2009, 13:11 GMT

   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.