Netanyahu: Israel Will Never Accept Arab Peace Initiative as Basis for Talks With Palestinians

Source: Haaretz

Arab nations must revise the deal to reflect Israeli demands, prime minister reiterates. 'If they bring the proposal from 2002 and define it as 'take it or leave it' – we’ll choose to leave it.'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud ministers Monday that he will never accept the original Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to two sources at the meeting.

“If the Arab nations grasp the fact that they need to revise the Arab League proposal according to the changes Israel demands, then we can talk,” Netanyahu said. “But if they bring the proposal from 2002 and define it as 'take it or leave it' – we’ll choose to leave it.”

The positive part of the plan, he told the ministers, was the willingness of the Arab nations to achieve peace and normalization with Israel. On the other hand, its negative elements include the demand that Israel retreat to the 1967 borders in the West Bank with territorial adjustments, and leave the Golan Heights, as well as the return of the Palestinian refugees.

During the Likud meeting, Netanyahu said that an article 10 days ago in Haaretz by his former bureau chief, Nathan Eshel, wasn't coordinated with him. Eshel, in Haaretz, claimed that Netanyahu had been about to enter a coalition agreement with the Zionist Union, prior to making a diplomatic move, but that such a decision was thwarted due to opposition in leftist circles to sitting in a government with Likud. Eshel’s article does “not reflect my position,” Netanyahu said in the meeting.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.724725