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Israel Seeks Negotiated Peace with Defensible Borders
(New York Times) Isabel Kershner - Israelis who generally reflect Prime Minister Netanyahu's thinking said he was unlikely to forswear the two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians after the recent American elections. "Israel has its own interest in reaching a negotiated solution with its neighbors," said Dore Gold, a longtime Netanyahu adviser who recently served as director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry. "This is not a function of pressure or arm-twisting. Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it clear that this is his goal." But Gold suggested that a Trump administration was likely to roll back the demand that Israel withdraw to the 1967 lines and support borders that are more accommodating to Israel. "Trump's policy paper spoke about Israel having defensible borders, which are clearly different from the 1967 lines," he said. Michael B. Oren, a deputy minister in the prime minister's office and a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., told Israel Radio: "We have to ask ourselves what is in Israel's interests. The interest of the Israelis and, in my view, of the government, is indeed to achieve peace with the Palestinians through direct negotiations, without preconditions, at any time, in order to get to a solution of two states for two peoples."