Israeli premier Netanyahu appeals to Arab and Palestinian leaders to meet and make peace

Netanyahu appeals to Arabs for peace

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on Palestinian leaders to restart peace negotiations without preconditions.

Netanyahu made the call during a major policy speech about his Mideast peacemaking intentions.

“I call on you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority: Let us begin peace negotiations immediately, without preconditions,” he said. “Israel is committed to international agreements and expects all the other parties to fulfill their obligations as well.”

Netanyahu also called for Arab leaders to meet him and contribute to Palestinian economic development.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time will endorse the notion of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, top aides said Sunday, giving in to heavy U.S. pressure to drop his long-standing opposition to Palestinian independence.

Netanyahu, however, will demand that the Palestinians agree not to have an army and that they recognize Israel as the Jewish state — a condition widely seen as forcing Palestinian refugees to give up their dream of returning to lost properties in Israel.

Netanyahu planned to outline his vision in a major policy speech later Sunday. “He will call for a Palestinian state without an army, side by side with the Israeli state,” said Netanyahu’s press secretary, Nir Hefetz. Another aide, speaking on condition of anonymity pending the speech, confirmed the details of Netanyahu’s plan.

It was not clear whether Netanyahu’s conditions would be acceptable to the Palestinians. In particular, they have objected to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, saying it would amount to giving up the rights of millions of refugees and be discriminatory to Israel’s own Arab minority.

It also was not known how much captured land Netanyahu would be willing to cede to Palestinian control. The Palestinians demand all of the West Bank as part of a future state, with east Jerusalem as their capital. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war.

Netanyahu, leader of the hardline Likud Party, has historically opposed withdrawing from the lands, for both security and ideological reasons. Netanyahu has said he fears that Palestinian militants will use the West Bank to stage attacks on Israel, much the way Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip have fired thousands of rockets into Israel since it withdrew from that territory in 2005.

Despite all the uncertainty, his support for a Palestinian state would mark a major change of heart for the hardline Israeli leader, who has been caught between American demands for him to begin peace talks with the Palestinians and the constraints of a hardline coalition.

Israeli TV stations speculated that Netanyahu would reach out to the moderate Kadima Party, if his current coalition falls apart because of hardline opposition.