JERUSALEM, June 15 (Kyodo) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening signaled willingness to support a Palestinian state with conditions attached, including its demilitarization.
But his speech at Bar-Ilan University was promptly rejected by the Palestinian National Authority's chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, who said Natanyahu's proposal is closing the door to the two-state principle for peace in the Middle East.
The Israeli prime minister said, "It is impossible to expect us to agree in advance to the principle of a Palestinian state without assurances that this state will be demilitarized."
Citing the United States, Israel's principal ally, Netanyahu said his country seeks from the international community "clear commitments that in a future peace agreement, the territory controlled by the Palestinians will be demilitarized: namely, without an army, without control of its airspace..."
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His speech came nearly one month after he met in Washington with U.S. President Barack Obama who urged a two-state solution to the decades-old Middle East conflict. In a speech in Cairo on June 4, Obama vowed a "new beginning" between the United States and Muslims in a bid to lift U.S. standing with the Muslim world.
Netanyahu began his speech by singling out three "immense challenges" his country faces -- Iran's nuclear program, the economic crisis and "the advancement of peace."