Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state for the first time, saying such an entity would have to be demilitarized. In a key, televised address outlining his government's policy toward the Middle East peace process, Netanyahu said that Palestinians must recognize that Israel is the legitimate nation-state of the Jewish people "The heart of the (Middle East) conflict has always been the Arabs' refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish state," Netanyahu said. "The withdrawals that Israel has carried out in the past have not changed this reality." "The territory in Palestinian hands must be demilitarised -- in other words, without an army, without control of airspace and with effective security safeguards." "If we receive this ... demilitarisation and the security arrangements required by Israel, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, we will be prepared for a true peace agreement, to reach a solution of a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said.
In a key, televised address outlining his government's policy toward the Middle East peace process, Netanyahu said that Palestinians must recognize that Israel is the legitimate nation-state of the Jewish people
"The heart of the (Middle East) conflict has always been the Arabs' refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish state," Netanyahu said. "The withdrawals that Israel has carried out in the past have not changed this reality."
"The territory in Palestinian hands must be demilitarised -- in other words, without an army, without control of airspace and with effective security safeguards."
"If we receive this ... demilitarisation and the security arrangements required by Israel, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, we will be prepared for a true peace agreement, to reach a solution of a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said.
Hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state for the first time, in a speech on Sunday that Arab analysts said "torpedoes all peace initiatives in the region". The United States and the European Union have offered a cautious welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's propositions for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state. Arab leaders and analysts, however, said Netanyahu's propositions were unacceptable, especially in the light of his refusal to back down on the issues of settlements, the insistance that Jerusalem be the unified capital of the Jewish state and that Palestinians must recognise the Jewish character of Israel, a condition Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has long rejected. The Palestinians recognised Israel as a state in 1993 as part of the Oslo accords but have refused to recognise it as "Jewish" because doing so would effectively mean giving up the right of return for Palestinian refugees, a key Palestinian demand since Israel was created in 1948.
The United States and the European Union have offered a cautious welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's propositions for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state.
Arab leaders and analysts, however, said Netanyahu's propositions were unacceptable, especially in the light of his refusal to back down on the issues of settlements, the insistance that Jerusalem be the unified capital of the Jewish state and that Palestinians must recognise the Jewish character of Israel, a condition Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has long rejected.
The Palestinians recognised Israel as a state in 1993 as part of the Oslo accords but have refused to recognise it as "Jewish" because doing so would effectively mean giving up the right of return for Palestinian refugees, a key Palestinian demand since Israel was created in 1948.
The term was first used in the late 1940s, and was coined from 'Bantu' (meaning 'people' in the Bantu languages) and '-stan' (meaning 'land of' in the Persian, Urdu, and Armenian languages). It was regarded as a disparaging term by some critics of the apartheid-era government's 'homelands' (from Afrikaans tuisland). The word 'bantustan', today, is often used in a pejorative sense when describing a country or region that lacks any real legitimacy or power, consists of several unconnected enclaves, and/or emerges from national or international gerrymandering.
The word 'bantustan', today, is often used in a pejorative sense when describing a country or region that lacks any real legitimacy or power, consists of several unconnected enclaves, and/or emerges from national or international gerrymandering.
The former US president Jimmy Carter will visit Gaza for a rare meeting with senior Hamas officials following his criticism of a key speech by Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, on Sunday night.Carter, who has been in Israel and the occupied West Bank over the past week, will be one of the most senior western figures to meet the Hamas leadership in Gaza in recent years. He is expected to meet, among other Hamas officials, Ismail Haniyeh, the former Palestinian prime minister.Last month in Damascus he met Khaled Meshal, the head of the Hamas political bureau and the group's effective leader. Carter has been meeting Israeli officials and travelled to a Jewish settlement on the West Bank at the weekend as part of his private diplomatic efforts. His visits are not always welcomed by the Israeli government, which has been angered by his meetings in recent years with Hamas.
The former US president Jimmy Carter will visit Gaza for a rare meeting with senior Hamas officials following his criticism of a key speech by Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, on Sunday night.
Carter, who has been in Israel and the occupied West Bank over the past week, will be one of the most senior western figures to meet the Hamas leadership in Gaza in recent years. He is expected to meet, among other Hamas officials, Ismail Haniyeh, the former Palestinian prime minister.
Last month in Damascus he met Khaled Meshal, the head of the Hamas political bureau and the group's effective leader. Carter has been meeting Israeli officials and travelled to a Jewish settlement on the West Bank at the weekend as part of his private diplomatic efforts. His visits are not always welcomed by the Israeli government, which has been angered by his meetings in recent years with Hamas.
