AirTalk for May 24, 2011
Netanyahu lays out terms for “painful” peace
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) addresses a joint meeting of Congress, while U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden (L) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) listen at the U.S Capitol on May 24, 2011 in Washington, DC.
Earlier this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of the House and Senate. Just last week, the Israeli leader sharply criticized President Obama for proposing that Israel’s pre-1967 borders should be the basis for peace talks with the Palestinians. Today Netanyahu pledged to make “painful compromises” and for the first time explicitly said that some West Bank settlements would find themselves outside Israel’s final borders. But Netanyahu also reiterated a number of conditions that have been unacceptable to Palestinians in the past. He restated Israel’s refusal to repatriate millions of Palestinians to homes in Israel, maintained that contested Jerusalem can’t be shared with the Palestinians and insisted that Israel maintain its military presence on what would be the eastern border of a Palestinian state. A senior Palestinian official in the West Bank called Netanyahu's speech “a declaration of war against the Palestinians.” Is Netanyahu serious about concessions? Or is this just more of the same? How likely is it that his words today will entice Palestinians back to the negotiating table?


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