(Prime Minister's Office) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America on Tuesday: "No matter what disagreements there are between Israel and the United States, Israel has no better friend than America and America has no better friend than Israel." "I had a very good meeting with President Obama at the White House, and I deeply appreciate his commitment to bolster Israel's security at the time when the Middle East is becoming more dangerous than ever." "Despite our disagreement over the nuclear deal with Iran, I believe that America and Israel can and should work together now to ensure Iran complies with the deal, to curb Iran's regional aggression and to fight Iranian terrorism around the world." "The reason that we don't have peace yet with the Palestinians is not because of the settlements or a territorial dispute [over] the territories that were won in our defensive war of 1967. Israelis and Palestinians had a conflict for half a century - almost 50 years - before Israel captured any of those territories or built even a single one of those settlements." "And afterwards, we left part of that territory - Gaza. Left it to the very last centimeter or inch. Stripped out the settlements, went to the '67 boundaries, uprooted all the people who were there, disinterred people from their graves. What did we get? Peace? We got rockets." "The truth is that the reason that there isn't peace between Israelis and Palestinians is the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any boundary." "I remain committed to a vision of two states for two peoples where a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the Jewish state, and Israel will continue to work for peace in the hope that what is not achievable today might be achievable tomorrow."
2015-11-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive