Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed the idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state beside Israel for the first time Sunday, dramatically reversing himself in the face of US pressure but attaching conditions the Palestinians swiftly rejected. A week after President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world, Netanyahu said the Palestinian state would have to be unarmed and recognize Israel as the Jewish state – a condition amounting to Palestinian refugees giving up the goal of returning to Israel. With those conditions, he said, he could accept “a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state.” A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the speech as “sabotaging” peace efforts. “Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions,” said Nabil Abu Rdainah, noting Netanyahu's demand that Jerusalem be the undivided capital of Israel and that Palestinian refugees not be allowed into Israel. “This will not lead to complete and just peace,” Abu Rdainah said. “His remarks are not enough and will not lead to a solution.” 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 1967. Netanyahu, in an address seen as his response to Obama, refused to heed the US call for an immediate freeze of construction on lands Palestinians claim for their future state. He also said the holy city of Jerusalem must remain under Israeli sovereignty. Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said the plan “closed the door” to negotiations. In Washington, the White House said Obama welcomed the speech as an “important step forward.” Netanyahu's address had been eagerly anticipated in the wake of Obama's landmark speech to the Muslim world. Many Israeli commentators speculated that after the re-election of Iran's hardline president, Netanyahu would focus the address on the threat of Iran's suspect nuclear program. While reiterating his belief that a nuclear-armed Iran is a grave threat, Netanyahu spent little time on the issue. His speech was a dramatic transformation for a man who was raised on a fiercely nationalistic ideology and has spent a two-decade political career criticizing peace efforts. “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, calling on the wider Arab world to work with him. “Let's make peace. I am willing to meet with you any time any place – in Damascus, Riyadh, Beirut and in Jerusalem.” Since assuming office in March, Netanyahu has been caught between American demands to begin peace talks with the Palestinians and the constraints of a hardline coalition. With his speech, he appeared to favor Israel's all-important relationship with the US at the risk of destabilizing his government. Netanyahu laid out his vision in a half-hour speech broadcast nationwide during prime time. He spoke at Bar-Ilan University, known as a bastion of the Israeli right
