Netanyahu announces commitment to Palestinian state

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini that he is committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, during a meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

"My position hasn’t changed. I don’t support a one-state solution. I don’t believe this is a solution at all. I support the vision of two-states for two peoples – a demilitarised Palestinian state that recognises the Jewish state," Haaretz quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Netanyahu had used a quote from public speech he delivered in 2009 at Bar Ilan voicing his support for a two-state solution.

This is the first time that Netanyahu has publicly declared a commitment to a Palestinian state since his new government was established last week.

The announcement comes as a contradiction to statements Netanyahu had made during his presidential campaign in March, where he vowed that a Palestinian state would not be created if he were re-elected.

If the Zionist Union were to win the elections, "It would attach itself to the international community and do their bidding," including freezing construction in West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements, and cooperate with international initiatives to return Israel's borders to the 1967 lines, he said during an interview, reported Haaretz.

Analysts commented on his promises at the time as a last minute attempt to pull right-wing voters away from his opponent Naftali Bennet, who led the religious right-wing Habayit Hayehudi party, reported Haaretz.

On a visit to East Jerusalem in March, Netanyahu had also warned of the establishment of “Hamastan B” - a pejorative neologism referring to Hamas – if he were not elected and Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog formed a government instead.

Furthermore, despite US President Barack Obama’s demand that Israel be committed to a two-state solution, a document detailing the basic guidelines of Netanyahu’s coalition government presented to the Knesset last week had no mention of “two states for two people” nor did it include any intention of establishing a Palestinian State, reported Haaretz on Wednesday.

During the meeting with Mogherini, the prime minister also pointed towards recent steps taken during the past few months which he stated were aimed to ease daily life for Palestinians.

According to Haaretz, the guidelines of Netnayahu’s coalition government presented to the Knesset did however include a general statement announcing that "the government will advance the diplomatic process and will strive for a peace agreement with the Palestinians and with all of our neighbours."

The document also mentioned that the government will push for a diplomatic peace process while preserving Israel's security and national historical interests.

"If an agreement of this kind is reached, it will be brought for the approval of the cabinet and the Knesset, and if necessary, for a national referendum as well," Haaretz reported the document as saying.

The wording of the political clause in the document is similar to the wording used in Netanyahu's previous government in 2009 and 2013.

Neither of those two government expressed commitment to a two-state solution either – mainly due to the opposition of many members of Likud and its coalition partners on the right.