Netanyahu Says Israel Ready to Make Painful Compromises for Peace, but Palestinians Must Too

James Phillips / May 24, 2011

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today addressed a joint session of Congress and proclaimed that his government is willing to make “painful compromises” for peace with the Palestinians, but he ruled out any proposal that sacrifices Israel’s security needs or its identity as a Jewish state. In a lengthy speech that was interrupted 29 times by standing ovations and once by an incoherent protester, Netanyahu said that “Israel will not return to the indefensible boundaries of 1967” and that any agreement would have to take into consideration the “vast demographic changes” that have taken place since 1967.

Mr. Netanyahu promised that Israel would be “very generous” about the size of a future Palestinian state, but that “Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel.” He said “our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state; it’s always been about the existence of the Jewish state.” He called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to do what he has done: “I stood before my people and I said ‘I will accept a Palestinian state.’ It’s time for President Abbas to stand before his people and say, ‘I will accept a Jewish state.’ Those six words will change history.”

Netanyahu said Israel would not negotiate with terrorists and urged President Abbas to break off a recent power-sharing deal with the Islamist extremist Hamas movement, which remains implacably committed to Israel’s destruction. He said “We must take calls for our destruction seriously” after the experience of the Holocaust and promised “When we say never again, we mean never again.” (more…)