Israel PM to outline Middle East peace plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to outline his policy for the Middle East peace process in a major speech, officials say.

His spokesman said the PM’s “vision” involved “reconciliation” with all parties in the region, Reuters news agency reported.

Mr Netanyahu has come under pressure from the US to back a two-state peace solution with the Palestinians.

He is also expected to respond to the re-election of Iran’s president.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, was re-elected in Friday’s poll.

Mr Netanyahu has previously called Iran the greatest threat to Israel since its creation in 1948.

Since becoming prime minister three months ago, Mr Netanyahu has called for the resumption of talks on the Middle East peace “road map”, including conditions for establishing a Palestinian state.

In his speech at Bar-Ilan university on Sunday “the prime minister intends to articulate a clear view as to how he wants to move forward in the peace process with the Palestinians,” said Mark Regev, Mr Netanyahu’s spokesman.

“His vision is to move forward towards a historic reconciliation, and it is clear that all parties must play a role if this process is to succeed.”

Obama pressure

Mr Netanyahu has proposed focusing on economic, security and political relations, rather that territorial issues with the Palestinians.

The BBC’s Paul Wood in Jerusalem says Mr Netanyahu has been reluctant to embrace the two-state solution and may try to appease the Americans with something else – removing Jewish settlement outposts that are illegal even under Israeli law.

The Palestinian Authority says it will not return to negotiations unless Israel freezes settlement activity in the West Bank and openly backs a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mr Netanyahu’s proposals in his speech, explained to US envoy George Mitchell and other diplomats last week, are not expected to be adequate, one US official has said.

US President Barack Obama, in a keynote speech in Cairo on 4 June, described the Palestinians’ situation under exile in neighbouring countries and under Israeli occupation as “intolerable”.

“Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s,” Mr Obama said.

He also said the US bonds with Israel were “unbreakable”.

Mr Mitchell, Mr Obama’s Middle East envoy, has since been touring the region, visiting Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

from: news.bbc.co.uk