BICOM

Speaking yesterday evening to a delegation of senior American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his commitment to reaching a peace agreement which will include the formation of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu described his intention “to advance a solid secure peace with the Palestinians,” as outlined in his Bar Ilan University speech in 2009, based on “two states for two peoples – a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.” However, he emphasised that talks to achieve such an outcome “means you don’t place preconditions. In the last four years, the Palestinians have regrettably placed preconditions time after time.”

During his speech, Netanyahu also highlighted two further external challenges facing Israel. He regretted that “Iran’s plan to develop nuclear weapons” is continuing “unabated,” warning that although Tehran has yet to cross the enrichment red line which he specified during a speech at the United Nations in September, “they’re shortening that time [frame]… by putting in new, faster centrifuges that cut the time by one third.” Indeed, Iran announced earlier this month that they had significantly upgraded the centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear plant. Netanyahu said, “This has to be stopped,” through upgraded sanctions and that Iran must “know that if the sanctions and diplomacy fails, they will face a credible military threat.”

Netanyahu also outlined the challenge posed by the chaos of Syria’s internal conflict. He described Syria as an “undeveloped country” with “the world’s most developed weapons,” saying that “It has stockpiles of chemical weapons, and it has other strategic weapons” which can “change the balance of power in the Middle East.” Netanyahu pledged, “We will not sit idly by and let those weapons fall in the hands of terrorists.”