MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti) — Israel will not concede a Palestinian state without assurances of a comprehensive peace agreement between the two nations, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the beginning of the winter parliamentary session Monday.
"Some people tell us 'draw a map, outline a border with the Palestinian Authority and it will be okay.' Okay? Okay like it was when we left Gaza and Lebanon? What is the point of drawing a border if we don't know what country we will get on the other side?" the prime minister has been cited by the Jerusalem Post as saying.
He stressed, "I am not prepared to accept general statements about security. What will decide are not nice words on paper, but soldiers on the ground."
Netanyahu said he feared that an "Islamic State Republic" would spring up within the borders of a Palestinian state.
He added a peace treaty was essential to the process of Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation, with a demilitarized Palestine that would be ready, in its turn, to recognize Israel as a state.
Palestinians seek the creation of an independent state on the territories of the West Bank in East Jerusalem, partially occupied by Israel, as well as on the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian State has been recognized by 134 UN member states, including Russia.
