(Prime Minister's Office) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answered questions at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America on Tuesday by video from Jerusalem. "The only way you really get a workable and enduring peace is to have the parties agree to it. This is what happened in our peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. It's holding because there were mutual negotiations, mutual compromise, mutual agreement, and it sticks....We've had convulsions in the Middle East, and yet those peace treaties hold because they were directly negotiated between the parties." "If you try to impose peace from the outside, it never works. And...the reason we'll object to any such effort is: a) it will harden the Palestinian positions; and b) because it will harden the Palestinian positions, it will push peace back. It could push peace back decades." "There may be possibilities that have emerged in the Middle East as a result of the different appreciation that many in the region have for Israel's role in resisting the twin forces of militant Islam led by Iran and...by ISIS...that may...help us move towards some kind of resolution with the Palestinians." "But I think that one thing is certain, that trying to impose peace from the outside won't. So I very much hope that President Obama will continue the policy that he enunciated, which wasn't only his policy. It was the longstanding policy of the United States." "And I look forward also to working with President-elect Trump when he becomes President and his administration to further the twin interests of peace and security. These are interests of Israel and the United States, but they'll be achieved by direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions."
2016-11-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive