Netanyahu excludes all Palestinian demands from his principles of engagement

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has set out his principles of engagement for the direct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, ruling out in advance the implementation of any Palestinian conditions and demands. Instead, Mr. Netanyahu announced that the negotiations are to be based on “real security arrangements”, the recognition of Israel as “the national state for the Jewish people” and ending the conflict.

In his weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, August 22, Mr. Netanyahu said that making peace with the Palestinians may be “difficult” but it is “possible” but, “in order to do this, we need a real partner on the Palestinian side.” Commentators are pointing out that this is exactly the claim used to alienate the late Yasser Arafat once negotiations with him reached a tangible stage and the Israelis realised that they might actually have to make some concessions themselves to move towards peace.

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Israeli President Shimon Peres considers that the announcement of the talks scheduled to start in early September sees the Israelis standing on the threshold of a new era. He said that ending the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis is the most important issue in the entire Middle East.