Al Jazeera
Israel PM takes 'firm stand' on peace talks
Binyamin Netanyahu tells US Congress that Israel will compromise for peace but will not return to 1967 borders.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has addressed the US Congress, stressing the close ties between his country and the US and outlining his expectations for Middle East peace.
In his speech on Tuesday, the Israeli leader stressed his country's position as a democratic "friend of America" in the region, but largely ruled out movement on the issues that are important to Palestinians.
"Israel is not what is wrong with the Middle East," Netanyahu told Congress. "Israel is what is right about the Middle East."
He characterised the problems with the peace process in the Middle East as a Palestinian refusal to accept Israel.
"The Palestinians have been unwilling to accept the Palestinian state if it meant accepting a Jewish state alongside it," Netanyahu said.
His speech had been keenly anticipated because in an earlier address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) he had vowed to use it to speak "the unvarnished truth" about what was necessary for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Netanyahu and the US Israeli lobby have been rattled by the explicit support by Barack Obama, the US president, for a Palestinian state alongside Israel on the basis of Israel's pre-1967 war frontiers.
'Painful concessions'
Netanyahu told Congress that Israel was ready to make "painful concessions" and would be "very generous" about the size of a future Palestinian state, but that future borders were to be agreed in negotiations.
He also said the issue of Palestinian refugees must be resolved outside the borders of Israel and that "Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel".
In an earlier speech, Netanyahu ruled out a return to the 1967 borders [Al Jazeera]
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
Nisreen El-Shamayleh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Ramallah, said that Netanyahu's demands would be seen by Palestinians as asking far too much.
"Netanyahu says he wants to negotiate, but as far as Palestinian officials are concerned there isn't much to negotiate about," she said.
"He doesn't want to withdraw to 1967 borders, he wants to retain major settlements, he wants to keep Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and he wants the Palestinians to declare that they relinquish the right of return ... and recognise Israel as a Jewish state."
Nabil Shaath, an aide to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that that Netanyahu's parameters for a peace deal were a "declaration of war" on the Palestinians.
In his speech Netanyahu also called on Fatah, Abbas's party, to tear up its accord with Hamas, calling the group, which controls the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian version of al-Qaeda.
He also took the opportunity to reiterate Israeli fears that Iran might develop a nuclear weapon and said that Iran's leaders "should be banned from every respectable forum on the planet".
Israel enjoys strong bipartisan backing in Congress and the Israeli leader was given several standing ovations, although a heckler did interrupt Netanyahu on one occasion.
He countered by saying such a protest was an indication of "real democracy".
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/05/2011524151456629671.html
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